The Supreme Court on Thursday narrowed the scope of a federal law that adds two years of prison to various felonies if identity theft is involved, unanimously ruling that the government had interpreted what can count too broadly. Because he submitted an inflated claim using a patient’s Medicaid number, prosecutors convinced a judge that the law on aggravated identity theft applied, and Mr. Dubin received a longer prison sentence. Under the government’s reading, she wrote, “as long as a billing or payment method employs another person’s name or other identifying information, that is enough. A lawyer who rounds up her hours from 2.9 to three and bills her client electronically has committed aggravated identity theft. The same is true of a waiter who serves flank steak but charges for filet mignon using an electronic payment method.”

---

Persons: David Dubin, Dubin, Sonia Sotomayor, “, filet mignon Locations: Texas