Monday, June 11, 2007
The U.S. Supreme Court June 11 granted review in a criminal case that raises a sentencing issue similar to that presented in a case that the court dropped last week due to the death of the petitioner.
The question presented in Gall v. United States, No. 06-7949, is as follows: When determining the "reasonableness" of a district court sentence under United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 76 CrL 251 (2005), is it appropriate to require district courts to justify a deviation from the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines with a finding of extraordinary circumstances?
The court also agreed to review a case involving federal sentencing judges' authority to impose a sentence below the guidelines range on the basis of a disagreement with the guidelines' disparate treatment of crack and powder cocaine offenses, Kimbrough v. United States, No. 06-6330.