Supreme Court Dismisses and Remands RICO Case

In a per curiam opinion, the Supreme Court dismissed the writ of certiorari in a RICO case involving the hiring of undocumented workers. See Mohawk Industries v. Williams, No. 05-465, 547 U.S. ___ (June 5, 2006). The Court held that certiorari was improvidently granted and remanded the case to Eleventh Circuit for reconsideration in light of another RICO case the Supreme Court decided on the same day. The other RICO case does not involve undocumented workers. The Slip Opinion is available on the Supreme Court's website.

The Court had granted certiorari on the following narrow issue: Whether a defendant corporation and its agents can constitute an “enterprise” under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 18 U.S.C. §§1961-1969 (RICO), in light of the settled rule that a RICO defendant must “conduct” or “participate in” the affairs of some larger enterprise and not just its own affairs. For more information about this case, see the case summary.