SCOTUS Confirms “Unmistakable” Trend in Narrowing Identity Theft Statute

August 10, 2023  |  New York Law Journal

"The Supreme Court’s message is unmistakable: Courts should not assign federal criminal statutes a 'breathtaking' scope when a narrower reading is reasonable."  So began a dissent that presaged the Supreme Court’s recent unanimous decision in Dubin v. United States, another in a line of SCOTUS rulings rejecting the government’s broad interpretation, this time a reading of the aggravated identity theft statute that would mandate a two-year minimum prison sentence for virtually every low-level fraud by a health care provider. In their article for the New York Law Journal, "SCOTUS Confirms 'Unmistakable' Trend in Narrowing Identity Theft Statute," Robert Anello and Richard Albert explore the Court’s decision and its potential impact on fraud cases and beyond. 

SCOTUS Confirms “Unmistakable” Trend in Narrowing Identity Theft Statute (pdf | 157.32 KB)