The following excerpt is from Desertrain v. City of L. A., 754 F.3d 1147 (9th Cir. 2014):
[T]he purpose of the fair notice requirement is to enable the ordinary citizen to conform his or her conduct to the law. Id. at 58, 119 S.Ct. 1849. A penal statute cannot require the public to speculate as to its meaning while risking life, liberty, and property in the process. See Lanzetta v. New Jersey, 306 U.S. 451, 453, 59 S.Ct. 618, 83 L.Ed. 888 (1939).
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