Opinion of the Court
harmony, not to manufacture conflict.[1]
IV
Section 1324(a)(1)(A)(iv) reaches no further than the purposeful solicitation and facilitation of specific acts known to violate federal law. So understood, the statute does not “prohibi[t] a substantial amount of protected speech” relative to its “plainly legitimate sweep.” Williams, 553 U. S., at 292.
Start with clause (iv)’s valid reach. Hansen does not dispute that the provision encompasses a great deal of nonexpressive conduct—which does not implicate the First Amendment at all. Brief for Respondent 22–23. Consider just a few examples: smuggling noncitizens into the country, see United States v. Okatan, 728 F. 3d 111, 113–114 (CA2 2013); United States v. Yoshida, 303 F. 3d 1145, 1148–1151 (CA9 2002), providing counterfeit immigration documents, see United States v. Tracy, 456 Fed. Appx. 267, 269–270 (CA4 2011) (per curiam); United States v. Castillo-Felix, 539 F. 2d 9, 11 (CA9 1976), and issuing fraudulent Social Security numbers to noncitizens, see Edwards v. Prime, Inc., 602 F. 3d 1276, 1295–1297 (CA11 2010). A brief survey of the Federal Reporter confirms that these are heartland clause (iv) prosecutions. See 40 F. 4th, at 1072 (opinion of Bumatay, J.) (listing additional examples, including arranging fraudulent marriages and transporting noncitizens on boats). So the “plainly legitimate sweep” of the provision is extensive.
When we turn to the other side of the ledger, we find it pretty much blank. Hansen fails to identify a single prosecution for ostensibly protected expression in the 70 years
- ↑ The canon of constitutional avoidance is a problem for the dissent. Attempting to overcome it, Justice Jackson suggests that the canon has less force in the context of an overbreadth challenge. Post, at 17. Our cases offer no support for that proposition. In this context, as in others, ordinary principles of interpretation apply.
