Supreme Court Will Hear Identity Theft Case

The Supreme Court granted review this morning in a key test of an identity theft law that has been used to prosecute illegal immigrants swept up in immigration raids. We previewed the case, Flores-Figueroa v. United States, in this Conference Call article last week. Lower courts have split over application of the law, which calls for a mandatory two-year prison sentence for those who "knowingly" use another person's identification. Many who buy fake IDs, however, have no idea whether the cards they purchase use made-up names of fictitious people or information about real people. The 4th, 8th and 11th circuits ruled that the law applies whether or not the defendant knew the person was real. But the 1st, 9th and D.C. Circuits have ruled otherwise. The United States, which won below in the Flores-Figueroa case before the 8th Circuit, nonetheless asked the Supreme Court to resolve the issue because of the circuit split. The case will be argued early next year.