Dubin v. United States

Summary

Justice Sotomayor delivered the Court's opinion, joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Thomas, Alito, Kagan, Kavanaugh, Barrett, and Jackson. The Court held that aggravated identity theft under 18 U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(1) requires the defendant's use of another person's identifying information to be at the crux of what makes the predicate conduct criminal, rather than merely incidental to billing. Dubin's fraudulent representations concerned how and when psychological services were provided, not the identity of the patient receiving them. The Court therefore vacated the Fifth Circuit's judgment and remanded, leaving the applicability of plain-error review unresolved. Justice Gorsuch concurred in the judgment without any joiners. He agreed that the Government's expansive interpretation must be rejected but argued that the majority's alternative test provided inadequate guidance and that the statute was unconstitutionally vague.