Full Faith And Credit Clause Does Not Empower One State To Interfere With The Police Power Of Another
ROSIN v. MONKEN (March 17, 2010)
In 2003, Mitchell Rosin pleaded guilty in New York to a charge of sexual abuse in the third degree, a Class B misdemeanor. The prosecutor agreed to strike from the standard plea agreement a paragraph that would require Rosin to register as a sex offender and otherwise comply with the Sex Offender Registration Act. At the time of the plea agreement, Rosin was actually a resident of Oak Park, Illinois. In 2008, the Oak Park police insisted that he move from the area and register as a sex offender in Illinois. Rosin filed suit against the public officials who are responsible for enforcing the registration obligations. He alleged, under §1983, that the defendants' actions violated the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution. The district court granted the defendants' motion to dismiss. Rosin appeals.
In their opinion, Judges Cudahy, Manion, and Williams affirmed. The Court first the reasonableness of Rosin’s position that the Full Faith and Credit Clause requires Illinois to recognize a New York probation order. Unfortunately for Rosin, however, the Court noted that the order actually contained no language relieving him of an obligation to register. As part of the plea agreement, a paragraph was simply excised from the standard form. It was not replaced with any affirmative language. Therefore, held the Court, there was no order to recognize. Even if the elimination of the paragraph is treated as an affirmative act on the part of New York to relieve Rosin of his registration requirement, the Court concluded that it could not prevail. The Full Faith and Credit Clause grants national force to the judgment of one state. The Clause cannot, however, allow one state to interfere with the affairs of another. New York has no authority to interfere with the police power of the state of Illinois and dictate its approach to sex offenders.
Michael Rigney practices in the law offices of GVC Ltd. in Chicago. In this blog, he reports on select