Cite as: 537 U. S. 393 (2003)
Stevens, J., dissenting
of the term "property" is consistent with pre-Hobbs Act decisions of this Court, see Buchanan v. Warley, 245 U. S. 60, 74 (1917) (property "consists of the free use, enjoyment, and disposal of a person's acquisitions without control or diminution"), the New York Court of Appeals, see People v. Baron-dess, 133 N. Y. 649, 31 N. E. 240 (1892), the California Supreme Court, People v. Cadman, 57 Cal. 562 (1881), and with our recent decision in Carpenter v. United States, 484 U. S. 19 (1987).
The courts that have considered the applicability of the Hobbs Act to attempts to disrupt the operations of abortion clinics have uniformly adhered to the holdings of cases like Tropiano. See, e. g., Libertad v. Welch, 53 F. 3d 428, 438, n. 6 (CA1 1995); Northeast Women's Center, Inc. v. McMonagle, 868 F. 2d, at 1350; United States v. Anderson, 716 F. 2d 446, 447-450 (CA7 1983). Judge Kearse's endorsement of the Government's position in United States v. Arena, 180 F. 3d 380 (CA2 1999), followed this consistent line of cases. The jury had found that the defendants had engaged in "an overall strategy to cause abortion providers, particularly Planned Parenthood and Yoffa, to give up their property
business accounts and unrealized profits) . . . . Cf. United States v. Hathaway, 534 F. 2d 386, 395 (1st Cir.) (rejection of narrow perception of 'property'); Battaglia v. United States, 383 F. 2d 303 (9th Cir. 1967) (right to lease space in bowling alley free from threats). . . . Chase's right to solicit business free from threatened destruction and physical harm falls within the scope of protected property rights under the Hobbs Act.
. . . . . "Evidence of the previously described acts of intimidation and violence suffices. Appellants' objective was to induce Chase to give up a lucrative business. The fact that their threats were unsuccessful does not preclude conviction." United States v. Zemek, 634 F. 2d, at 1174 (some citations omitted).
None of the cases following United States v. Tropiano, 418 F. 2d 1069 (CA2 1969), even considered the novel suggestion that this method of obtaining control of intangible property amounted to nothing more than the nonfederal misdemeanor of "coercion," see ante, at 405 (majority opinion); ante, at 411 (Ginsburg, J., concurring).
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