Cite as: 527 U. S. 41 (1999)
Thomas, J., dissenting
meaning of the word 'loiter.' " 177 Ill. 2d, at 451, 687 N. E. 2d, at 61.
Justice Stevens' contrary conclusion is predicated primarily on the erroneous assumption that the ordinance proscribes large amounts of constitutionally protected and/or innocent conduct. See ante, at 55, 56-57, 60. As already explained, supra, at 102-106, the ordinance does not proscribe constitutionally protected conduct—there is no fundamental right to loiter. It is also anomalous to characterize loitering as "innocent" conduct when it has been disfavored throughout American history. When a category of conduct has been consistently criminalized, it can hardly be considered "innocent." Similarly, when a term has long been used to describe criminal conduct, the need to subject it to the "more stringent vagueness test" suggested in Hoffman Estates, 455 U. S., at 499, dissipates, for there is no risk of a trap for the unwary. The term "loiter" is no different from terms such as "fraud," "bribery," and "perjury." We expect people of ordinary intelligence to grasp the meaning of such legal terms despite the fact that they are arguably imprecise.10
The plurality also concludes that the definition of the term loiter—"to remain in any one place with no apparent pur-10 For example, a 1764 Georgia law declared that "all able bodied persons . . . who shall be found loitering . . . , all other idle vagrants, or disorderly persons wandering abroad without betaking themselves to some lawful employment or honest labor, shall be deemed and adjudged vagabonds," and required the apprehension of "any such vagabond . . . found within any county in this State, wandering, strolling, loitering about" (reprinted in First Laws of the State of Georgia, Part 1, 376-377 (J. Cushing comp. 1981)). See also, e. g., Digest of Laws of Pennsylvania 829 (F. Brightly 8th ed. 1853) ("The following described persons shall be liable to the penalties imposed by law upon vagrants . . . . All persons who shall . . . be found loitering"); Ky. Rev. Stat., ch. CIV, § 1, p. 69 (1852) ("If any able bodied person be found loitering or rambling about, . . . he shall be taken and adjudged to be a vagrant, and guilty of a high misdemeanor").
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