Mistretta v. United States – U.S. Sentencing Commission

t Blackmun1989. Sentencing Commission does not violate separation of powers. Congress has considerable flexibility to assign judicial branch tasks that might be considered law-making ones as it sees fit, at least where the subject matter relates to the role of the courts.

t Congress set up the U.S. Sentencing Commissionto develop mandatory guidelines that federal judges would have to apply in setting sentences for federal crimes. Congress provided that of the seven voting members (all to be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate), at least three must be federal judges. Plaintiffs claimed this was an unconstitutional delegation of law-making power to the Judicial Branch. That is, Congress was assigning to the judges on the Commission not the job of interpreting the law (proper judicial role) but the job of making sentencing policy, a classic legislative function.

t Delegation attack rejected. SCt here was troubled by the requirement that three of the seven presidential appointees to the Commission be judges, but the requirement is somewhat supported by history and (because the powers are administrative rather than judicial in nature) is not barred by the structure of the USC:

n SCt. Rejected the claim of unconstitutional delegation of law-making authority to the Judicial Branch. It is true that non-judicial duties may generally not be given to the Judicial Branch. But there are some exceptions, and this was one. Because the judiciary plays the major role in sentencing, allowing some judges to participate in the making of guidelines for sentences does not threaten the “fundamental structural protections of the USC.”

n SCt. Also rejected a second argument that the “judiciary’s entanglement in the political work of the Commission undermines public confidence in the disinteredness of the Judicial Branch.” Since the sentencing process itself is carried out by the Judicial Branch, allowing judges to help set the guidelines is an essentially neutral endeavor and one in which judicial participation is peculiarly appropriate.”

t Dissent - Scalia. This was a “pure delegation of legislative power” to the Judicial Branch, and as such violated separation of powersprinciples. Commission gets to decide how long individuals will have to go to jail for certain crimes, narrowing the range of sentencing discretion specified by Congress. Power this broad needs to be accountable.

Date: 2015-01-02; view: 720