Whether 18 U.S.C. §111 is a specific-intent or general-intent offense

QUESTION PRESENTED 18 U.S.C. §111 criminalizes “assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees” of the federal government. As Judge Kelly explained below (and several other courts of appeals have noted) there is a recognized disagreement among the federal circuits over whether this is a specific-intent or general-intent offense. The distinction matters because—among other things—defendants charged with specific-intent crimes may offer a defense at trial based on diminished capacity (like mental defect or intoxication) while defendants charged with general-intent crimes may not. Petitioner here was accused of “assaulting, impeding, or interfering with” a postal service employee and precluded from offering any diminished-capacity defense on the sole ground that §111 is a general-intent crime. The question presented is: Whether 18 U.S.C. §111 is a specific-intent or general-intent offense.