Thomas Maze, Defendant, was convicted in the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky at Louisville on four counts of mail fraud. The Court of Appeals reversed. The Supreme Court affirmed.

Facts

Thomas E. Maze moved to Louisville, Kentucky, and there shared an apartment with Charles L.Meredith. In the spring of that year Maze’s fancy lightly turned to thoughts of the sunny Southland, and he thereupon took Meredith’s BankAmericard and his 1968 automobile and headed for Southern California.

By presenting the BankAmericard and signing Meredith’s name, Maze obtained food and lodging at motels located in California, Florida, and Louisiana. Each of these establishments transmitted to the Citizens Fidelity Bank & Trust Co. in Louisville, which had issued the BankAmericard to Meredith, the invoices representing goods and services furnished to Maze. Meredith, meanwhile, on the day after Maze’s departure from Louisville, notified the Louisville bank that his credit card had been stolen.......

1. State the elements of the federal mail fraud statute relevant to deciding whether Thomas Maze was guilty of mail fraud.

2. List the facts relevant to deciding whether Thomas Maze violated the statute.

3. Summarize the arguments for the majority’s opinion reversing Maze’s conviction.

4. Summarize the dissent’s arguments in favor of upholding Maze’s conviction.

5. Which position do you favor? Defend your answer.

6. Is the dissent’s worry over the social problem the Mail Fraud Act is aimed at misplaced? Is it still a problem? Defend your answer with arguments made by the majority and dissent, and the text in the section “Federal Mail Fraud.”