Editing Mens rea (section)

=== Federal criminal law ===
Since the federal government of the United States does not have a generalized [[Police power (United States constitutional law)|police power]] like that of the states, the scope of its criminal statutes is necessarily circumscribed.<ref>''[[United States v. Lopez]]'', {{ussc|514|549|1995}}.</ref> Ordinary prosecutions are the province of the states, and only crimes connected to the constitutional powers may be pursued by the federal government.<ref>"In our federal system, 'Congress cannot punish felonies generally,' ''Cohens v. Virginia,'' 6 Wheat. 264, 428, 5 L.Ed. 257 (1821); it may enact only those criminal laws that are connected to one of its constitutionally enumerated powers, such as the authority to regulate interstate commerce. As a result, most federal offenses include, in addition to substantive elements, a jurisdictional one." ''Torres v. Lynch'', 578 U.S. 452, 457 (2016).</ref> Nevertheless, the Supreme Court holds that required ''mens rea'' is an essential element of federal criminal offenses.<ref>In determining Congress' intent, we start from a longstanding presumption, traceable to the common law, that Congress intends to require a defendant to possess a culpable mental state regarding "each of the statutory elements that criminalize otherwise innocent conduct." ''Rehaif v. United States'', 139 S. Ct. 2191, 2195 (2019).</ref><ref>". . . we must construe the statute in light of the background rules of the common law . . .  in which the requirement of some ''mens rea'' for a crime is firmly embedded." ''Staples v. United States'', 511 U.S. 600, 605, 114 S. Ct. 1793, 1797, 128 L. Ed. 2d 608 (1994)</ref> Consequently, Title 18 of the [[United States Code]] does not use the aforementioned culpability scheme but relies instead on more traditional definitions of crimes taken from common law.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Office of the Law Revision Counsel, United States Code |url=https://uscode.house.gov/browse/&edition=prelim}}</ref> For example, ''malice aforethought'' is used as a requirement for committing capital murder,<ref name=":62">{{Cite web |title=18 USC §1111: Murder. |url=https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title18-section1111&num=0&edition=prelim}}</ref>{{sfn|Dubber (2002)|p=55}} and the Supreme Court has applied mental states such as "willfully."<ref>''Dixon v. United States'', 548 U.S. 1, 5 (2006)</ref><ref>''Bryan v. United States'', 524 U.S. 184, 192 (1998).</ref>