FifthAmendment CriminalProcedure HabeasCorpus Jurisdiction
Whether a federal prosecution is structural error when a grand jury indicts a defendant for conduct that is not a federal offense?
Questions Presented Petitioners were each convicted of possessing a firearm as a prohibited person. After their convictions became final, this Court held in Rehaif v. United States the statutes underlying Petitioners’ convictions include a new mens rea element requiring defendants to know they belonged to the category of persons barred from possessing a firearm at the time of the possession, emphasizing the element’s importance in separating innocent gun possession from criminal conduct. 139 S. Ct. 2191 (2019). Yet Petitioners’ indictments failed to allege this crucial element. 1. Ina federal prosecution, it is structural error for a grand jury to indict a defendant for conduct that is not a federal offense? 2. Should this Court grant review to resolve a Circuit split concerning the proper interpretation of this Court’s precedent on defective indictments and the limited jurisdiction of federal courts? i