Whether the mens rea requirement as to the person's being under 18 applies to the person's being under 14 or whether the aggravated under-14 offense imposes strict criminal liability

QUESTION PRESENTED A federal criminal statute this Court has not construed, 18 U.S.C. § 1591, prohibits wide-ranging conduct that facilitates, directly or indirectly, the sex trafficking of minors. The statute does not require intent to facilitate such trafficking. It does have, however, a mens rea component requiring the defendant to have acted “knowing, or in reckless disregard of the fact,” that a trafficked person was under 18. And it sets out an aggravated offense, with a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison, if the person was under 14. The question presented is whether the mens rea requirement as to the person’s being under 18 applies to the person’s being under 14 or whether, as the Second Circuit held, that aggravated under-14 offense imposes “strict criminal liability with regard to the age of a victim.” i