Cite as: 575 U. S. ____ (2015) 17 Opinion of the Court makes clear that negligence is not sufficient to support a conviction under Section 875(c), contrary to the view of nine Courts of Appeals. Pet. for Cert. 17. There was and is no circuit conflict over the question JUSTICE ALITO and JUSTICE THOMAS would have us decide—whether recklessness suffices for liability under Section 875(c). No Court of Appeals has even addressed that question. We think that is more than sufficient “justification,” post, at 2 (opinion of ALITO, J.), for us to decline to be the first appellate tribunal to do so. Such prudence is nothing new. See United States v. Bailey, 444 U. S. 394, 407 (1980) (declining to decide whether mental state of recklessness or negligence could suffice for criminal liability under 18 U. S. C. §751, even though a “court may someday confront a case” presenting issue); Ginsberg v. New York, 390 U. S. 629, 644–645 (1968) (rejecting defendant’s challenge to obscenity law “makes it unnecessary for us to define further today ‘what sort of mental element is requisite to a constitutionally permissible prosecution’ ”); Smith v. California, 361 U. S. 147, 154 (1959) (overturning conviction because lower court did not require any mental element under statute, but noting that “[w]e need not and most definitely do not pass today on what sort of mental element is requisite to a constitutionally permissible prosecution”); cf. Gulf Oil Co. v. Bernard, 452 U. S. 89, 103–104 (1981) (finding a lower court’s order impermissible under the First Amendment but not deciding “what standards are mandated by the First Amendment in this kind of case”). We may be “capable of deciding the recklessness issue,” post, at 2 (opinion of ALITO, J.), but following our usual practice of awaiting a decision below and hearing from the parties would help ensure that we decide it correctly. The judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. It is so ordered.