{"id":1849,"date":"2023-04-12T15:33:52","date_gmt":"2023-04-12T19:33:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/?page_id=1849"},"modified":"2025-05-12T11:09:20","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T15:09:20","slug":"sentencing-guidelines-abstention","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/in-print\/volume-60-number-2-spring-2023\/sentencing-guidelines-abstention\/","title":{"rendered":"Sentencing Guidelines Abstention"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span id=\"page1482R_mcid3\" class=\"markedContent\"><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">The U.S. Sentencing Guidelines remain the starting point and anchor for every <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">sentence<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">that<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">federal<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">judges<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">impose<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">on<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">criminal<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">defendants.<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">As<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">such,<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">the <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">Guidelines are a critical component of the American criminal justice system. The<\/span><br role=\"presentation\" \/><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">Supreme Court has categorically refused, however, to resolve circuit splits <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">involving the Guidelines, leaving a significant gap in the coherent and fair <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">administration of criminal justice. It has done so even while acknowledging the <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">existence of a clear split, conceding that denying certiorari will perpetuate<\/span><\/span><span id=\"page1482R_mcid5\" class=\"markedContent\"> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">dras<\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">tic<\/span><\/span><span id=\"page1482R_mcid7\" class=\"markedContent\"> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">sentencing disparities, and knowing that the U.S. Sentencing Commission, the <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">agency responsible for amending the Guidelines, lacked a quorum to address any <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">splits.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span id=\"page1482R_mcid8\" class=\"markedContent\"><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">This Article highlights and critiques this practice, called sentencing guidelines <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">abstention. It provides an overview of federal sentencing, describes the purported <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">basis for the Court\u2019s forbearance, and argues (1) that the Court\u2019s precedent at <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">most supports abstention only when the Commission is the middle of amending <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">the guideline provision giving rise to the split and there is an alternative basis <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">for the decision, and (2) that any abstention is inconsistent with the Court\u2019s role <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">and rules, congressional intent, administrative law principles, and the practical <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">realities of the Commission\u2019s amendment process. <\/span><\/span><span id=\"page1482R_mcid9\" class=\"markedContent\"><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">The overarching ambition of this Article is to ensure that the Court assumes its <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">role of resolving Guidelines splits, provides uniformity to the federal judiciary, <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">and contributes thereby to the development of a reasoned criminal justice system.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/04\/60-2_Sidhu_Sentencing.pdf\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Sentencing Guidelines remain the starting point and anchor for every sentence that federal judges impose on criminal defendants. As such, the Guidelines are a critical component of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9515,"featured_media":0,"parent":1835,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"abstract.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":""},"class_list":["post-1849","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"ticketed":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9515"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1849"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1851,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1849\/revisions\/1851"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/american-criminal-law-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}