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From the code [0]: > ... whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of the United State
by jdmichal 10y ago
From the code [0]:
> ... whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of the United States, knowingly and willfully ...
Personally, I would be inclined to agree with you, on the basis that you cannot knowingly and willfully lie in a such a matter if you do not know that you are discussing such a matter. However, I'd believe judicial precedent over my own layman interpretation...
[0] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1001 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1001
- pvg 10y agoI don't think this is really about a layperson's interpretation, it's the other interpretation that's zany - the sort of thing that happens the nerdforums when you treat law as code. "Federal law enforcement officers can lie to you" and "Lying to the feds can be a serious crime" are both true but extrapolate these to the maximum and suddenly lying to some dude standing next to you at a bus stop who turns out to be a fed is a crime. This is obviously nonsense. FBI agents can't arrest you and lie to you about your Miranda rights or lie to you that they'll beat the shit out of you if you don't cooperate with them. If there's an undercover agent you don't know about in your organization and you lie to them simply because, say, you don't trust them, you're not automatically looking at an indictment.