Whether a defendant commits 'aggravated identity theft' under 18 U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(1) when she 'uses' a client's identifying information in submitting an application for asylum on the applicant's behalf, where she does not steal, misappropriate or misrepresent the applicant's identity

QUESTION PRESENTED The aggravated identity theft statute imposes a mandatory consecutive sentence of minimum two years for “[w]hoever, during and in relation to any felonyviolation enumerated in subsection (c), knowingly transfers, possesses, or uses, without lawful authority, a means of identification of another person... .” 18 U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(1). The questions presented involve issues over which the courts of appeals are split and splintered: a) whether a defendant commits “aggravated identity theft” under 18 U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(1) when she “uses” a client’s identifying information in submitting an application for asylum on the applicant’s behalf, which contains false statements regarding the applicant’s eligibility for asylum; where she does not steal, misappropriate or misrepresent the applicant’s identity; b) whether the element of “without lawful authority” applies both to obtaining or possessing a means of identification unlawfully and to exceeding lawful authority and, if so, whether “without lawful authority” is duplicative of the element of “during and in relation to any felony violation.” i RELATED PARTIES AND