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The Supreme Court will decide if undocumented workers must be aware that false Social Security numbers belong to someone else in order to be charged with identity theft, writes The AP. The hearings are a result of federal prosecutors' increasing attempts to charge the workers with aggravated identity theft, then urging them to plead guilty to lesser immigration violations. In cases where the defendants are convicted of the identity theft charges, proof of awareness that the numbers were property of someone else has not been required.

Defense attorneys claim the workers simply needed to have documentation in order to work, but the Bush administration justifies the convictions because the defendants "knowingly" used identification belonging to another person.

The justices plan to resolve the issue next year.