2005 United States Supreme Court case
United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 (2005), is a United States Supreme Court decision on criminal sentencing. The Court ruled that the Sixth Amendment right to jury trial requires that other than a prior conviction, only facts admitted by a defendant or proved beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury may be used to calculate a sentence exceeding the prescribed statutory maximum sentence, whether the defendant has pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial. The maximum sentence that a judge may impose is based upon the facts admitted by the defendant or proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.
In its majority decision, the Court struck down the provision of the federal sentencing statute that required federal district judges to impose a sentence within the United States Federal Sentencing Guidelines range, along with the provision that deprived federal appeals courts of the power to review sentences imposed outside the range. The Court instructed federal district judges to impose a sentence with reference to a wider range of sentencing factors set forth in the federal sentencing statute, and it directed federal appeals courts to review criminal sentences for "reasonableness," which the Court left undefined.
The ruling was the direct consequence of the Court's ruling six months earlier in "Blakely v. Washington", in which the Court had imposed the same requirement on a guidelines sentencing scheme employed in Washington state. "Blakely" arose out of "Apprendi v. New Jersey" in which the Court held that except for a prior conviction, any fact that increases the defendant's punishment above the statutory maximum punishment must be submitted to a jury and proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
Background.
Booker.
In 2003, Freddie Joe Booker was arrested after police officers found 92.5 grams of crack cocaine in his duffel bag. He later gave a written statement to the police that admitted to selling an additional 566 grams of crack cocaine. In 2003, a jury in the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin found Booker guilty of possessing with intent to distribute at least 50 grams of cocaine base. Federal law provided for a statutory sentence of ten years to life in prison.
At sentencing, the judge found by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant (1) distributed 566 grams over and above the 100 grams that the jury had to have found and (2) had obstructed justice. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, that increased the defendant's base offense level from 32 to 36 (U.S.S.G. §§ 2D1.1(c)(2),(4)). The enhancement for the drug possession and obstruction of justice (U.S.S.G. § 3C1.1) made Booker's sentencing range of 30 years to life; the judge sentenced Booker to the minimum.
Booker appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, claiming the sentencing guidelines violated his Sixth Amendment rights since the judge was able to find facts absent the findings of the jury, other than his criminal history, to determine his sentencing range. The Seventh Circuit affirmed Booker's conviction but found the application of the Guidelines violated the Sixth Amendment, as interpreted in "Blakely", and so reversed Booker's sentence. The Government appealed the Seventh Circuit's ruling to the Supreme Court.
Fanfan.
Narcotics agents discovered 2.5 kilograms of cocaine and 281.6 grams of cocaine base in Duncan Fanfan's vehicle and arrested him. A jury in the US District Court for the District of Maine found that Fanfan had conspired to distribute and to possess with the intent to distribute at least 500 grams of cocaine, in violation of  § 846,  § 841(a)(1) and 841(b)(1)(B)(ii). The maximum sentence for Fanfan under the Federal Guidelines, without any additional findings, was 78 months in prison.
At sentencing, the judge, by a preponderance of the evidence, determined that Fanfan was responsible for 2.5 kilograms of cocaine powder and 261.6 grams of crack and was an organizer, leader, manager, or supervisor in the criminal activity. That would have resulted 188 to 235 months sentence under the Guidelines, which was a 10-year increase in the sentencing range from what the jury had found. The Supreme Court had issued "Blakely" four days before the judge imposed Fanfan's sentence. The sentencing judge, believing that "Blakely" had implications on federal judges increasing sentences on facts not found by juries, imposed the maximum sentence, 78 months, based on the jury's verdict. The government asked the judge to correct Fanfan's sentence, which was denied.
Consolidation.
The Government filed a notice of appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and a petition for a writ of certiorari before judgment in the Supreme Court in the Fanfan case. Because of the importance of the case, the Supreme Court granted the petition, as well as a similar petition for certiorari filed by the government in Booker's case, following the Seventh Circuit's ruling in favor of Booker. The Government asked the Court to determine whether "Apprendi" applied to the Sentencing Guidelines and which of the Guidelines were constitutional.
Decision.
The decision of the Supreme Court was announced by two different groups of Justices. Justice Stevens wrote the majority opinion answering the question of whether the application of the Guidelines in these two cases violated the Sixth Amendment as articulated in the "Apprendi" line of cases. Justice Breyer wrote the majority opinion answering the question of how to remedy the Sixth Amendment violation identified by the Court.
Constitutional holding.
As applied to modern sentencing schemes, the Sixth Amendment demands that, other than the fact of a prior conviction, any fact that increases the defendant's punishment above the statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury and proved beyond a reasonable doubt. The "statutory maximum" is the greatest sentence the judge can impose based solely on the jury's fact finding. In a guidelines sentencing scheme that requires judges to impose a sentence within the guideline range, the jury-trial and reasonable-doubt requirements apply to the determination of any fact that exposes the defendant to punishment above the guideline range.
The Federal Sentencing Guidelines, like the Washington sentencing guidelines discussed in "Blakely", were mandatory; sentencing judges were required to impose sentences within the range dictated by the Guidelines. In this sense, the decision in "Blakely" dictated the constitutional holding that the rule of "Apprendi", as construed in "Blakely", applies to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
The Government made three principal arguments against applying "Blakely" to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, all of which the Court rejected.
Commission vs. Legislature.
The Federal Sentencing Guidelines were promulgated by a sentencing commission; the Washington sentencing guidelines at issue in "Blakely", by contrast, were enacted by that state's legislature. That distinction, the Court said, "lacked constitutional significance," because regardless of the body that set the rules, the rules required sentencing judges to increase sentences on the basis of particular facts not submitted to the jury and proved beyond a reasonable doubt. "Regardless of whether the legal basis of the accusation [against the defendant] is in a statute or in guidelines promulgated by an independent commission, the principles behind the jury trial right are equally applicable" to each.
Stare decisis.
The Government identified four recent cases that, it argued, precluded the Court from applying "Blakely" to the Guidelines under the principles of "stare decisis". First, "United States v. Dunnigan", 507 U.S. 87 (1993), held that the Guidelines provision that provided for an enhanced sentence if the defendant committed perjury during the trial did not violate the defendant's Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. In "Dunnigan", the Court had no occasion to consider whether the jury-trial right applied to that particular provision. Furthermore, although a sentence based on such an enhancement had the potential to exceed the statutory maximum, this did not mean that the judge had to impose such a sentence. "Thus, while the reach of "Dunnigan" may be limited, we need not overrule it."
Next, "Witte v. United States", 515 U.S. 389 (1995), in which the Court held conduct that supported an enhancement in a prior case did not prevent a separate criminal prosecution for the same conduct, did not prevent applying "Blakely" to the Guidelines. This was so because, ultimately, the conduct in the two respective cases was subject to two different burdens of proof. The Court considered the converse of the "Witte" rule in "United States v. Watts", 519 U.S. 148 (1997), where it held that conduct of which the defendant had been acquitted could nevertheless support a sentence enhancement under the Guidelines. In neither case had the Court considered whether the sentence enhancements in question were subject to the jury-trial requirement. "The issue we confront today simply was not presented."
Finally, "Edwards v. United States", 523 U.S. 511 (1998), in which the Court allowed a sentence for a drug conspiracy involving both powder and crack cocaine to rest on both drugs in the face of a general verdict not specifying whether the jury believed the conspiracy involved either powder cocaine or crack cocaine or both, did not prevent the Court from applying "Blakely" to the Guidelines. In "Edwards", the defendants could not have argued that the powder and crack cocaine were not part of the same overall conspiracy; hence, the Court's ruling in that case was not inconsistent with applying "Blakely" to the Guidelines.
Separation of Powers.
The Government argued that applying the jury-trial requirement to sentencing enhancements promulgated by a commission would transform those enhancements into a criminal code, resulting in an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power to the judicial branch. In "Mistretta v. United States", the Court had upheld the delegation of such legislative power to a body in the judicial branch, reasoning that the judicial branch had the power to exercise other quasi-legislative functions such as proposing rules of evidence and civil procedure for use in the federal courts. The United States Sentencing Commission was not performing an adjudicatory function; rather, it was exercising a policy-making power appropriate for judicial officers and uniquely within their expertise. This reasoning did not preclude applying "Blakely" to the Guidelines.
Thus, the Court ruled that the holding in "Blakely" applied to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
Remedial holding.
The Court next confronted the question of a remedy for the constitutional violation. A different majority of the Court concluded that 18 U.S.C. § 3553(b) — the provision of the federal sentencing statute that required district courts to impose a sentence within the Guidelines range — was "incompatible" with the constitutional holding and therefore had to be "severed and excised" from the statute. Likewise, 18 U.S.C. § 3742(e), the provision that governed the handling of appeals from sentences, also had to be severed and excised, because that provision was inextricably linked with the provision that made the Guidelines mandatory. The result of severing and excising these two provisions was to make the Guidelines "effectively advisory," such that district courts could, after considering the Guidelines range, tailor a sentence that reflected the broader range of concerns set forth in the federal sentencing statute.
The Court evaluated two possible remedies in light of Congress's intent in enacting the Guidelines system. The first option, and the one preferred by the Justices who dissented from the remedial holding, "would engraft onto the existing system today's Sixth Amendment 'jury trial' requirement." The second, the one the Court ultimately adopted, made the Guidelines advisory while at the same time "maintaining a strong connection between the sentence imposed and the offender's real conduct — a connection important to the increased uniformity of sentencing that Congress intended its Guidelines system to achieve." Although both remedies would "significantly alter the system that Congress designed," the remedial majority observed that it was not possible to "maintain the judicial factfinding that Congress thought would underpin the mandatory Guidelines system" in light of the jury factfinding requirement the constitutional majority had applied to that system.
Why the Jury Factfinding Requirement Is Not Compatible with the Guidelines Scheme.
Several considerations persuaded the Court that Congress would not have enacted the Guidelines system and made it mandatory for federal district judges to apply if it had known that a jury factfinding requirement would apply to it. First, the text of the sentencing statute required "the court" to consider "the nature and circumstances of the offense and the history and characteristics of the defendant" when imposing sentence. In context, this meant "the judge sitting alone" instead of "the judge together with the jury." When it was debating the Guidelines, Congress had intended for the judge to weigh the factors bearing on a defendant's sentence by himself.
Second, "Congress's basic statutory goal — a system that diminishes