Last week marked a significant period in federal sentencing developments. The Supreme Court issued Gall v. United States and Kimbrough v. United States, and the Sentencing Commission voted to make the new crack guidelines retroactive, effective March 3, 2008. Below is a quick summary of the Supreme Court's decisions from Professor Doug Berman's excellent Sentencing Law & Policy blog and the SCOTUSblog:
Kimbrough v. United States
The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that the federal guidelines on sentencing for cocaine violations are advisory only, rejecting a lower court ruling that they are effectively mandatory. Judges must consider the Guideline range for a cocaine violation, the Court said, but may conclude that they are too harsh when considering the disparity between punishment for crack cocaine and cocaine in powder form. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the decision in Kimbrough v. U.S. (06-6330)....
Gall v. United States
Ruling in a second Guidelines case, Gall v. U.S. (06-7949), the Court — also by a 7-2 vote — cleared the way for judges to impose sentences below the specified range and still have such punishment regarded as “reasonable.” The Justices, in an opinion written by Justice John Paul Stevens, told federal appeals courts to use a “deferential abuse-of-discretion standard” even when a trial sets sets a punishment below the range. Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., announced the opinion in Stevens’ absence.
Please visit these blogs for in-depth commentary regarding the significance of these decisions.
Sentencing Commission's Crack Retroactivity
The Sentencing Commission's official press release regarding the crack amendment retroactivity is posted here, as well as its reader-friendly version of the amendments on retroactivity. Please stay tuned to this blog regarding the implications of the amendments for our District and Circuit, or contact us at (302) 573-6010.
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