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Voorhees v. United States

Petition for certiorari denied on March 30, 2020

Docket No. Argument Opinion Vote Author Term
19-795 N/A N/A N/A N/A OT 2019

Issue: Whether the principle that criminal statutes must contain a mens rea element, with the exception of strict liability offenses, applies to criminal prosecutions under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, when the underlying statute at issue, 10 U.S.C. § 933, contains no mens rea element and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces held below that only a general intent is required using an objective, versus subjective, standard, i.e., negligence, and thus that no mens rea element need be instructed to the jury, even when the "conduct" alleged to be criminal is facially noncriminal.

SCOTUSblog Coverage

DateProceedings and Orders (key to color coding)
10/18/2019Application (19A441) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from November 6, 2019 to December 23, 2019, submitted to The Chief Justice.
10/23/2019Application (19A441) granted by The Chief Justice extending the time to file until December 23, 2019.
12/20/2019Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due January 21, 2020)
01/14/2020Motion to extend the time to file a response from January 21, 2020 to February 20, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
01/15/2020Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including February 20, 2020.
02/20/2020Brief of respondent United States of America in opposition filed.
03/05/2020Reply of petitioner Paul Voorhees filed. (Distributed)
03/11/2020DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/27/2020.
03/30/2020Petition DENIED.