In the McNally decision the Court announced that the mail fraud statute could no longer be used to prosecute fraud that deprived an individual of an intangible right such as the right to honest government. Instead, the Court held that the mail fraud statute was limited in scope to protection of property rights. This holding was surprising because court decisions had protected intangible rights under the statute since the 1940's. In addition, the Supreme Court was known to be hard on criminal defendants. The Supreme Court's subsequent decision in Carpenter v. United States has broadened the definition of property to include certain kinds of intangible rights. However, the McNally holding that a deprivation of intangible rights alone was not enough to sustain a mail fraud conviction remained unchanged by Carpenter. Thus Congress should consider the various legislative proposals to reverse the effects of the McNally decision. 579 footnotes.