Court rules on knowing standard in identity theft cases

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that persons who use fake identification numbers to commit other crimes must know they belong to a real person to be subject to a two-year sentence extension for “aggravated identity theft.” The ruling came in a federal identity theft case concerning illegal immigrants who used false social security numbers to obtain employment.

See, "Justices Limit Use of Identity Theft Law in Immigration Cases," New York Times, May 4, 2009, at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/us/05immig.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper; "Supreme Court limits identity theft law," Los Angeles Times, May 5, 2009, at http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-court-identity5-2009may05,0,7732350.story.