Dean and Professor of Law Nora V. Demleitner participated, with Jenner & Block attorneys Iris Bennett and Daniel B. Tehrani as counsel of record, in shaping the argument in an amicus brief, signed by professors of criminal law, to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The brief was submitted December 22, 2008. In Ignacio Flores-Figueroa v. United States, the defendant received a mandatory minimum sentence under the aggravated identity theft act for knowingly possessing the identity of another. The question in the case is whether the defendant must know that the identity belongs in fact to another. The criminal law professors argue that such is required to assure that criminal punishment remains calibrated to the offender's culpability.