Detroit Judge rules Congress can't block mutilation [View all]

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Dr. Jumana Nagarwala wants a judge to dismiss a conspiracy charge involving two 7-year-old Minnesota girls who were brought to Metro Detroit for what prosecutors call an illegal procedure performed by the Northville doctor. The procedure is practiced by some members of the Dawoodi Bohra, a Muslim sect from India that has a small community in Metro Detroit.

The request came nine days after U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman dismissed female genital mutilation charges against Nagarwala and others. The judge's order was a significant, but not fatal, blow to a novel criminal case because Friedman left intact conspiracy and obstruction charges that could send Nagarwala and three others to federal prison for decades.

Prosecutors allege Minnesota mothers Haseena Halfal and Zainab Hariyanawala brought their daughters to Detroit in February 2017 to undergo female genital mutilation. Prosecutors say the trip constituted a crime: conspiracy to travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.

Judge opined Congress has no authority to make laws concerning issues of this nature.
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2018/11/20/judge-dismisses-key-count-genital-mutilation-case/2066855002/

JUDGE Friedman removed four defendants from the case — including three mothers accused of subjecting their daughters to female genital mutilation — while concluding Congress had no authority to enact a law criminalizing female genital mutilation, known as FGM.

“There is nothing commercial or economic about FGM,” Friedman wrote in a 28-page opinion. (Female genital mutilation) is not part of a larger market and it has no demonstrated effect on interstate commerce. The Commerce Clause does not permit Congress to regulate a crime of this nature.”