1、CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i What You Dont Know Cant Hurt You: Supreme Court to Address Knowledge Requirement for Firearm Offenses Updated June 21, 2019 UPDATE: On June 21, 2019, the Supreme Court held in a 7-2 decision that the know
2、ledge requirement for violations of 18 U.S.C. 922(g) “applies both to the defendants conduct and to the defendants status,” meaning that the government “must show that the defendant knew he possessed a firearm and also that he knew he had the relevant status when he possessed it” in order for the de
3、fendant to be found guilty of an offense under the statute. The majority opinion, authored by Justice Breyer and joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Ginsburg, Sotomayor, Kagan, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh, recognized that the statutory term “knowingly” ordinarily applies “to all the subsequently
4、 listed elements of the crime.” The majority saw “no basis” in the text of the statute, its legislative history, or the Courts precedent “to interpret knowingly as applying to the second 922(g) element” (possession) “but not the first” (status). Accordingly, the majority concluded that “Congress int
