A person cannot be held criminally liable once he or she is found insane in criminal trial. In Clark v. Arizona, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that (1) Arizona’s narrowing of its insanity test did not violate due process, and (2) Arizona’s evidential rule, which excluded evi-dence of mental illness and incapacity due to mental illness on issue of mens rea, did not violate due process of law. The holding of the Su-preme Court raises significant issues regarding the constitutional na-ture of the insanity defense and the constitutional right to present evidence. The issue is also tied to the defendant’s mental state and challenges the common law tradition of mens rea and culpability. By reviewing the common law tradition and current legal models of the insanity defense in the U.S., this paper analyzes the case and its effects, and proposes an alternative means of thinking about the law and in-sanity.