United States Sentencing Commission

The United States Sentencing Commission is an independent agency of the judicial branch of the U.S. federal government.<ref name="ussc overview">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It is responsible for articulating the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines for the federal courts. The Commission promulgates the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which replaced the prior system of indeterminate sentencing that allowed trial judges to give sentences ranging from probation to the maximum statutory punishment for the offense. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C.

The commission was created by the Sentencing Reform Act provisions of the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984.<ref name="ussc overview"/> The constitutionality of the commission was challenged as a congressional encroachment on the power of the executive but upheld by the Supreme Court in Mistretta v. United States, {{#ifeq:no|no |{{#if:

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The U.S. Sentencing Commission was established by Congress as a permanent, independent agency within the judicial branch.<ref name="ussc overview"/> The seven members of the Commission are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, for a term of six years.<ref name="ussc overview"/> The Judicial Conference offers names of potential nominees to the President for nomination.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Commission members may be reappointed to one additional term, also with the advice and consent of the Senate. Some Commission members have been appointed to finish out the term of prior members instead of starting their own 6-year term, and therefore, not all Commission members have served six years or more.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Three of the members must be federal judges, and no more than four may belong to the same political party.<ref name="ussc overview" /> The Attorney General or his designee and the chair of the United States Parole Commission sit as ex officio, non-voting members of the Commission.<ref name="ussc overview"/> The Commission requires a quorum of at least four voting members in order to promulgate amendments to the Sentencing Guidelines.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The Commission lacked full membership from 2014 to 2022.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On August 4, 2022, the Senate confirmed President Biden's seven nominees to the Commission; all the confirmed members were sworn in the next day.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Current membership

Template:As of:<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Title	Member	Party	Occupation	Date appointed	Term expiration
Chair	Carlton W. Reeves	Template:Party shading/Democratic | Democratic	Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi	August 5, 2022	October 31, 2027
Vice Chair	L. Felipe Restrepo	Template:Party shading/Democratic | Democratic	Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit	August 5, 2022	October 31, 2025
Vice Chair	Laura Mate	Template:Party shading/Democratic | Democratic	Director of Sentencing Resource Counsel	August 5, 2022	October 31, 2027
Vice Chair	Claire McCusker Murray	Template:Party shading/Republican | Republican	Former Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General	August 5, 2022	October 31, 2027
Commissioner	Candice C. Wong	Template:Party shading/Republican | Republican	Assistant United States Attorney, United States Attorney for the District of Columbia	August 5, 2022	October 31, 2027
Commissioner	Vacant	Template:Sdash	Template:Sort	Template:Sort	October 31, 2029
Commissioner	Vacant	Template:Sdash	Template:Sort	Template:Sort	October 31, 2029
Template:Nowrap (non-voting)	Patricia K. Cushwa		Acting Chair, United States Parole Commission	Template:Sort	Template:Sort
Template:Nowrap (non-voting) Template:Nowrap	Jonathan J. Wroblewski		Director, Office of Policy and Legislation, U.S. Department of Justice	Template:Sort	Template:Sort

Former membership

As listed on the U.S. Sentencing Commission's website:<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Former Members of the U.S. Sentencing Commission

Title	Member	Occupation	Date appointed	Term expiration
Chairman	William W. Wilkins, Jr.	Judge, U.S. District Circuit, South Carolina; subsequently elevated to U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit	1985	1994
	Stephen G. Breyer	Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit (later Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States)	1985	1989
	George E. MacKinnon	Senior Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit	1985	1991
	Ilene H. Nagel	Professor of Law and Sociology, Indiana University School of Law	1985	1994
	Helen G. Corrothers	Member, U.S. Parole Commission	1985	1991
	Michael K. Block	Professor of Law and Economics, University of Arizona	1985	1989
	Paul H. Robinson	Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School	1985	1988
Vice Chair 1994–1996	A. David Mazzone	Judge, U.S. District Court, D. Massachusetts	1990	1996
	Julie E. Carnes	Assistant U.S. Attorney, N.D. Georgia. Subsequently was appointed as a federal district court judge for the Northern District of Georgia and continued to serve on the Commission.)	1990	1996
Vice Chair 1994–1998	Michael S. Gelacak	Attorney, McNair Firm, Washington, D.C.	1990	1998
Chairman, 1994–1998	Richard P. Conaboy	Senior Judge, U.S. District Court, Middle District of Pennsylvania	1994	1998
	Deanell R. Tacha	Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit	1994	1998
Vice Chair, 1995–97 (holdover status ended 10/21/98)	Michael Goldsmith	Professor of Law, Brigham Young University Law School	1994	1998
	Wayne A. Budd	Attorney, Goodwin, Procter & Hoar, Boston, MA	1994	1997
	Joe Kendall	Judge, U.S. District Court, N.D. Texas	1999	2002
	Sterling Johnson, Jr.	Judge, U.S. District Court, E.D. New York	1999	2002
Chair, 1999–2004	Diana E. Murphy	Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit	1999	2004
	Michael E. O’Neill	Assistant Professor, George Mason University School of Law	1999	2005
Vice Chair, 1999 – 2007	John R. Steer	General Counsel, U.S. Sentencing Commission	1999	2007
	Michael E. Horowitz	Attorney, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, Washington, DC	2003	2008
Chair, 2009–2010; Vice Chair, 1999–2009	William K. Sessions III	Judge and later elevated to Chief Judge, U.S. District Court, District of Vermont	1999	2010
Vice Chair, 1999–2010	Ruben Castillo	Judge, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois	1999	2010
	Beryl Howell	Executive Managing Director and General Counsel, Stroz Friedberg, LLC, Washington, DC; subsequently appointed to the U.S. District Court, District of Columbia and later Chief Judge.	2004	2012
Vice Chair, 2008–2012	William B. Carr, Jr.	Adjunct Professor of Law, Widener Law School, Wilmington, DE	2008	2012
Chair, 2003–2010; Vice Chair, 2011–2014	Ricardo H. Hinojosa	Judge and later Chief Judge, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas	2003	2014
Vice Chair, 2010–2014	Ketanji Brown Jackson	Attorney, Morrison & Foerster LLP, later appointed to Judge, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia; later appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States	2010	2014
	Dabney L. Friedrich	Associate Counsel, Office of Counsel to the President, Washington, DC, later appointed to Judge, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>)	2016
citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>-2016	Patti B. Saris	Judge and later Chief Judge, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	2016
citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>-2018	William H. Pryor Jr.	Judge, U.S. Circuit Court, Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	2018
	Rachel E. Barkow	Segal Family Professor of Regulatory Law and Policy, New York University School of Law	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>)
	Danny C. Reeves	Judge, and later Chief Judge, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Kentucky	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	March 2021
	John Gleeson	Former Judge, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York	August 5, 2022	December 2024
	Claria Horn Boom	Judge, U.S. District Court, Western District of Kentucky and Eastern District of Kentucky	August 5, 2022	December 2024

"Drugs Minus Two Amendment"

On April 10, 2014, the Commission unanimously voted to approve the "Drugs Minus Two Amendment."<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The "Drugs Minus Two Amendment" changed the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines to "reduce the applicable sentencing guideline range for most federal drug trafficking offenses."<ref name=":0"/> The Commission voted to make the Amendment retroactive on July 18, 2014, "thereby allowing eligible offenders serving a previously imposed term of imprisonment to file a motion under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) for a sentence reduction."<ref name=":0"/>

2015 actions

After a visit to a federal prison in Oklahoma by President Barack Obama in July 2015,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the Commission issued new retroactive sentencing guidelines in October which lowered sentences for many drug offenders. The sentencing panel estimated that roughly 46,000 of 100,000 drug offenders serving federal sentences would qualify for early release. 6,000 would be released in November but ¹/₃ of those inmates were to be turned over to I.C.E. for deportation proceedings.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The commission's change represents an overall change in prosecution of drug-related offences.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In response to the change, senators, in a bipartisan effort, are attempting to reduce minimum sentences for these offenses.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Judicial Conference of the United States Commissioner Candidate Suggestions

In April 2021, the Judicial Conference of the United States sent the following candidate suggestions to President Biden: Judge Luis Felipe Restrepo (to represent a Democratic seat), Judge Denise Jefferson Casper (Democratic seat), Judge Abdul Kallon (Democratic seat), Judge Carol Bagley Amon (Republican seat), Judge Federico Moreno (Republican seat), and Judge Michael Seabright (Republican seat).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Past Presidential Commissioner Nominations

President Barack Obama Nominees

On April 20, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated William K. Sessions III, of Vermont, to be Chair of the Commission.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On July 23, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson to be a Commissioner.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On April 28, 2010, President Barack Obama nominated Judge Patti B. Saris as Commissioner and Chair, and nominated Dabney Langhorne Friedrich as a Commissioner (for a second term).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In April 2012, President Barack Obama nominated Senior District Judge Charles R. Breyer of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California as a Commissioner.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In April 2013, President Barack Obama nominated Rachel Elise Barkow, of New York, to be a Member of the United States Sentencing Commission; Charles R. Breyer, of California, to be a Member of the United States Sentencing Commission; and William H. Pryor Jr., of Alabama, to be a Member of the United States Sentencing Commission.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On September 9, 2015, President Barack Obama nominated Judge Richard F. Boulware and Judge Charles R. Breyer as Commissioners.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On March 15, 2016, President Barack Obama nominated Judge Danny C. Reeves as a Commissioner.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On January 17, 2017, President Barack Obama nominated Charles R. Breyer for reappointment and Danny C. Reeves as a Commissioner.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

President Donald Trump Nominees

In March of 2018, President Donald Trump said he intended to nominate four candidates to the Commission: "Judge William Pryor of Alabama, Judge Luis Felipe Restrepo of Pennsylvania, Judge Henry Hudson of Virginia and Georgetown University law professor William Graham Otis."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On August 12, 2020, President Donald Trump nominated five individuals to join the Sentencing Commission: Judge K. Michael Moore, of Florida, as Chairman of the United States Sentencing Commission; Judge Claria Horn Boom, of Kentucky, as a Commissioner of the United States Sentencing Commission; Judge Henry E. Hudson, of Virginia, as a Commissioner of the United States Sentencing Commission; John G. Malcolm (Vice President for the Institute for Constitutional Government and the Director of the Meese Center for Legal & Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation), as a Commissioner of the United States Sentencing Commission; and Judge Luis Felipe Restrepo, of Pennsylvania, as a Commissioner of the United States Sentencing Commission.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

See also

• Sentencing Act of 1987

References

<references/>

External links

• United States Sentencing Commission
• United States Sentencing Commission in the Federal Register
• Interviews with first four Commission Chairs
• From the Hill to the Court to the Commission (Interview with Commission Chair Patti Saris, The Third Branch Sept. 2011)
• Significant Dates and Decisions in the History of the Sentencing Guidelines
• Anonymous hacks US Sentencing Commission, distributes files
• Records of the United States Sentencing Commission in the National Archives (Record Group 539)