Jones v. United States, 529 U.S. 848, 2 (2000)

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Cite as: 529 U. S. 848 (2000)

Syllabus

passing, or past connection to commerce. See, e. g., Bailey v. United States, 516 U. S. 137, 143, 145. It surely is not the common perception that a private, owner-occupied residence is "used" in the "activity" of receiving natural gas, a mortgage, or an insurance policy. Cf. id., at 145. The Government does not allege that the residence here served as a home office or the locus of any commercial undertaking. The home's only "active employment," so far as the record reveals, was for the everyday living of Jones's cousin and his family. Russell v. United States, 471 U. S. 858, 862—in which the Court held that particular property was being used in an "activity affecting commerce" under § 844(i) because its owner was renting it to tenants at the time he attempted to destroy it by fire—does not warrant a less "use"-centered reading of § 844(i) in this case. The Court there observed that "[b]y its terms," § 844(i) applies only to "property that is 'used' in an 'activity' that affects commerce," and ruled that "the rental of real estate" fits that description, ibid. Here, the homeowner did not use his residence in any trade or business. Were the Court to adopt the Government's expansive interpretation, hardly a building in the land would fall outside § 844(i)'s domain, and the statute's limiting language, "used in," would have no office. Judges should hesitate to treat statutory terms in any setting as surplusage, particularly when the words describe an element of a crime. E. g., Ratzlaf v. United States, 510 U. S. 135, 140-141. Pp. 852-857.

(b) The foregoing reading is in harmony with the guiding principle that where a statute is susceptible of two constructions, by one of which grave and doubtful constitutional questions arise and by the other of which such questions are avoided, the Court's duty is to adopt the latter. See, e. g., Edward J. DeBartolo Corp. v. Florida Gulf Coast Building & Constr. Trades Council, 485 U. S. 568, 575. In holding that a statute making it a federal crime to possess a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school exceeded Congress' power to regulate commerce, this Court, in United States v. Lopez, 514 U. S. 549, stressed that the area was one of traditional state concern, see, e. g., id., at 561, n. 3, and that the legislation aimed at activity in which neither the actors nor their conduct had a commercial character, e. g., id., at 560-562. Given the concerns brought to the fore in Lopez, it is appropriate to avoid the constitutional question that would arise were the Court to read § 844(i) to render the traditionally local criminal conduct in which Jones engaged a matter for federal enforcement. United States v. Bass, 404 U. S. 336, 350. The Court's comprehension of § 844(i) is additionally reinforced by other interpretive guides. Ambiguity concerning the ambit of criminal statutes should be resolved in favor of lenity, Rewis v. United States, 401 U. S. 808, 812, and when choice must be made between two readings of

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