Politics

The racist origins of the law at the center of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ prosecution

Published

2 years ago

November 12, 2024

The racist origins of the law at the center of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ prosecution

Sean “Diddy” Combs was arrestedon Monday and charged with racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. Each is a serious federal crime, and the powerful hip-hop mogul is facing very serious prison time if convicted. (Combs has denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty.) Notably, the third count in Combs’ indictment comes from a federal law dating back to 1910. It’s known today as the Mann Act. Federal prosecutors don’t often use the law’s other name, and for good reason. The Mann Act is also known as the “White Slave Traffic Act.”

Many laws have been passed because of outdated — or simply racist — societal attitudes. Sometimes, those laws stick around for a surprisingly long time. It wasn’t until 1967 that the Supreme Court struck down anti-miscegenation laws outlawing interracial marriage. (And Alabama kept its law on the state books until 2000, even though it was no longer constitutional.) Similarly, laws mandating segregation were struck down across the country when modern sensibilities recognized them as unjust.

The statute was “born out of a hysteria” in the early 1900s.

But not the Mann Act. Originally motivated by xenophobia, racism and politicians looking for ways to punish consensual “immoral” sex, the law remains a federal tool used to prosecute Combs and many others, including rapper R. Kelly.

While the text of the White Slave Traffic Act doesn’t exclusively protect white women, the statute was “born out of a hysteria” in the early 1900s “that ‘white slavers’ were preying upon young women — coercing them into prostitution through threats, intimidation, and force.” Writing in the Columbia Human Rights Law Reviewsex worker activist Lorelei Lee argues the “prototypical ‘white slave’ of early 1900s discourse was a young white girl from a rural area who was lured into prostitution after moving to an urban center and thus being separated from the supervision of her family.”

The sponsors of the Mann Act definedthe white slave trade as “the business of securing white women and girls and of selling them outright, or of exploiting them for immoral purposes.” Although the text of the law doesn’t single out white women for protection, the legislative history demonstrates a retrograde motive to protect white women from “interracial sex.”

The text of the law as originally passed in 1910 criminalized knowingly transporting a woman in interstate commerce “for the purpose of prostitution,” but also for the purpose of “debauchery, or any other immoral purpose.” As one can imagine, a lot more purposes were considered “immoral” in 1910, and potentially included — according to the Supreme Court in 1917 — an “interstate trip for the purpose of a sexual affair between two consenting adults.”

Several scandalous prosecutions followed. Arguably the most infamous was the prosecution of the first African American heavyweight boxing champion, Jack Johnson. The federal government prosecuted Johnson under the White Slave Traffic Act for transporting a white woman named Belle Schreiber across state lines. This, despite the fact that Schreiber was an adult and testified that she had consented to the trip.

Johnson was convicted, only to be pardoned posthumously over a century later in 2018 by then-President Donald Trump. (Johnson wasn’t the only high-profile man, Black or white, targeted by federal prosecutors, though. Another famous prosecution was that of Frank Lloyd Wright, accused of transporting a mistress from Wisconsin to Minnesota.)

The “immoral purposes” clause remained in the Mann Act for 75 years, until 1986.

The “immoral purposes” clause remained in the Mann Act for 75 years, until 1986, when Congress amended the statute to remove it, and also to make the statute gender neutral. In its modern incarnation, it applies only when the transportation of the person was for illegal sexual activity — in Combs’ case, prostitution.

Johnson likely could not be prosecuted under the Mann Act today. However, as in 1910, the victim’s consentis still not a defense. Diddy’s defense will likely try to demonstrate that everyone at the alleged “freak offs” and sex parties prosecutors have described in sometimes intense detail were there willingly. But even if that assertion is proven true, it might not be enough to save him.

Two things are probably true: First, seasoned federal prosecutors are likely quite aware of the checkered history of the Mann Act, including its alternate name. Second, you’ll never hear any of them call it that. And that’s a good thing. The revised version of the Mann Act has utility in the modern era. Human trafficking is a legitimate concern in 2024, as opposed to the manufactured “white girl slavery” panic of the early 1900s that inspired the original act. Perhaps this is a law that truly can be repurposed, despite its questionable origins.

Danny Cevallos

Danny Cevallos is an BLN legal analyst who practices in the areas of personal injury, wrongful conviction and criminal defense in Pennsylvania, New York and the U.S. Virgin Islands at the law firms of Cevallos & Wong in Pennsylvania and Edelman & Edelmanin New York, where he is of counsel.

Politics

‘We are winning elections’: Bernie Sanders on Democrats’ progressive wing

Published

18 hours ago

September 6, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

‘We are winning elections’: Bernie Sanders on Democrats’ progressive wing

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Politics

Trump wants the Postal Service to radically overhaul mail voting. But ballots are already going out.

Published

2 days ago

September 4, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump’s controversial demands for the Postal Service to overhaul and monitor millions of mail ballots hit another snag on Friday, when North Carolina became the first state in the nation to start sending out ballots for the November election.

In March, Trump signed the initial executive order, which aimed to crack down on mail-in voting — which he regularly alleges without evidence is a vector for widespread voter fraud — and assert an unprecedented amount of federal control over the upcoming elections.

Under this order and the subsequent rule drafted by the U.S. Postal Service, the USPS would refuse to deliver ballots to states that failed to provide lists of eligible mail voters or did not adhere to an approved envelope design style.

Since then, the order has faced legal challenges, and it remains paused by a federal judge’s orders. But the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to allow the new rule to proceed — something current and former election officials from both parties say would be both a legal nightmare that oversteps the federal government’s traditional role in elections and a logistical one that is happening far too close to the November election to implement even if they agreed with it.

“Why the hell are you rocking the boat this late in the game?” said Stephen Richer, a former Republican recorder of Maricopa County, Arizona, who has clashed with Trump allies for defending the security of the 2020 election.

Still, election officials are trying to project a sense of normalcy for voters, particularly in North Carolina, which serves as a test of whether established local election systems can operate normally amid intensifying federal scrutiny.

“I want to emphasize this point because there has been a lot of outside noise: Our county workers are ready,” Sam Hayes, a longtime Republican lawyer in the state and now executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said in a Thursday afternoon press conference.

He added, “All we can do is what we’re doing. … It is business as usual as far as I’m concerned.”

Despite the legal challenges, the Trump administration has continued to press the courts to let it proceed. The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to lift an order from a Massachusetts judge which temporarily prevents the USPS from enforcing their rule. It is the second time the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to step in, after winning an earlier victory in which the high court dismissed an earlier hold on the rule as premature.

“The uncertainty is coming from a single activist judge who continues to try and obstruct President Trump from implementing commonsense measures to protect the security of mail-in ballots and ensure only Americans vote in American elections,” White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said in a statement. “These safeguards for mail ballots were proposed months ago giving election officials ample time to prepare for the 2026 election.”

The USPS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Election officials said that if the rule goes into effect this close to November, it would cause chaos and place added strain on the USPS and election officials. And an anonymous federal whistleblower said in a report circulated earlier this week by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) that the USPS was moving forward in a “secretive, rushed, chaotic, and fundamentally flawed process” to try to implement the new system ahead of the midterms.

In the coming weeks, states across the country will follow North Carolina’s lead. Nine other states will begin mailing ballots in the next two weeks, according to a tracker from the National Conference of State Legislatures — with the biggest day for mailing coming 45 days before the election in mid-September.

“It would be so outrageous to try to let this go into effect. It’s hard to even imagine,” said Ben Hovland, a senior fellow for democracy at the progressive think tank Center for American Progress and former Democratic commissioner with the Election Assistance Commission who was fired by Trump in July.

He added, “It would be a break-glass moment for our democracy.”

The rule would require meticulous changes to ballot handling and tracking practices that Hovland said are impossible to implement before Election Day in about two months, effectively disenfranchising millions of voters.

“Ballots are printed. Envelopes are printed. You can go on and on with all the practical reasons that show that implementing something like this at this time is not feasible,” he said.

Richer said he doubted the new rules would bring about more security. Even if the USPS received lists from the states, according to the postal service’s final rule, it would not do any additional vetting of the list, Richer said.

“It’s just that the mail ballots have to be on that list, and I don’t see what added value for election integrity that does,” he said.

He added, “It creates a lot of administrative burden, and I think it creates a lot more opportunity for error.”

While a decision looms in the courts, election officials and experts cast doubt on the likelihood of the rules going into effect before November. A more pressing issue, they said, is the confusion and uncertainty surrounding mail-in ballots, which could subvert and change the behaviors of voters.

“It makes things seem messy or difficult, and it can dissuade people from participating or coming out to vote,” Hovland said. “It certainly also helps establish a pretext to make bad faith claims about election results.”

Hovland said that while none of these claims of voter fraud are backed up with facts, they could cause Americans to lose faith in the voting process.

Still, some current officials contended they were well-prepared for whatever happens — and that they’d be able to communicate effectively with voters who have become increasingly buffeted by dramatic rhetoric about the once-unmentioned nuts and bolts of actually running an election.

“There’s always a lot of noise around elections, that’s not going to change, and it can be hard to differentiate that from what’s actually going on on the ground,” said Jason Tyson, director of external affairs for the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

As Election Day approaches, Tyson and election officials said they urge voters to check their registration status and make a plan to vote.

He added, “I think we’ve got a really well-trained, solid staff who are ready, and who have gone through all of the checks and balances and points of contact that we need to do to get to where we are.”

Politics

Missouri Supreme Court pauses GOP gerrymander, likely netting Democrats 1 House seat

Published

3 days ago

September 3, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Missouri’s Supreme Court suspended a congressional map that state Republicans drew last year that would have netted the GOP an additional House seat, likely keeping the seat in Democratic hands this November.

The court ruled unanimously on Thursday that a referendum petition organized by Democrats to put the new congressional maps to a vote was incorrectly deemed insufficient by Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, and ordered that the gerrymandered map be put to a vote in the fall.

Voters will ultimately decide the fate of the new lines in November. But in the meantime, it cannot be in place for the midterms, meaning Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s original Kansas City-based district will likely stay in Democrats’ hands this fall.