MOORE V. UNITED STATES
On appeal from the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Who is who?
James Eric Moore is a convicted crack dealer. The United States is a big country you can find on a map between Canada and Mexico in North America.
How did Mr. Moore manage to get his case before the Supreme Court?
Mr. Moore was convicted in district court for selling crack. He asked the District Court Judge to reduce his sentence because of the Supreme Court decision in
United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 (2005). He was basically telling the district court that he wanted his sentence reduced below the amount the Sentencing Guidelines "required."
For those of you that haven't heard, Booker held that the Sentencing Guidelines were not mandatory - district courts can choose a sentence outside the guidelines. If you want to know more about the Sentencing Guidelines, here's a summary written by CLARINET.WOODWINDS.COM: The Sentencing Guidelines
The District Court Judge told Mr. Moore that he couldn't diverge from the Sentencing Guidelines, because it would be up to Congress to change them:
With regard to the crack and powder cocaine differ-ence, that is the law. I’m applying the law as it currently stands. If that is going to be changed, that is a congressional matter. Congress is the one who looks at the guidelines and decides whether or not they should be put in—in force. . . . It isn’t the judges. It’s the lawmakers, and I have taken an oath to apply the law, and that’s what I will do in this sentencing.
Essentially, the District Court held that the Guidelines were mandatory, regardless of
Booker.
Mr. Moore appeal to the Eighth Circuit, who denied his appeal and agreed with the District Court.
Mr. Moore then appealed to the Supreme Court, for the first time.
What happened on the first appeal?
As luck would have it, the Supreme Court wrote the decision in K
IMBROUGH v. U
NITED S
TATES during the 2007 term. You can read Clarinet.Woodwinds.Com's
case review right now if you like - we'll wait here till you get back.
Since that case ruled that district courts could choose sentences outside the guidelines, the Supreme Court remanded Mr. Moore's case to the Eighth Circuit for a decision consistent with Kimbrough.
How did the Eighth Circuit do on remand?
If Clarinet.Woodwinds.Com were grading, the Eighth Circuit got an F. The Eight Circuit wrote that the district court did consider the crack/cocaine disparity:
As there was then no circuit authority to the contrary, we presume the district court was aware that Booker granted it discretion to vary downward based upon the impact of the crack cocaine guidelines on this defendant, but elected not to exercise that discretion.
Which is a pretty foolish thing to say. The district court actually said it couldn't vary downward, and the originial Eighth Circuit opinion had agreed.
Mr. Moore appealed to the Supreme Court a second time. This time, without legal representation.
How did the Supreme Court rule?
The Supreme Court reveresed the Eighth Circuit. Agreeing with not only Mr. Moore, but also the United States who said the Eighth Circuit made a mistake, the Supreme Court held that the district court did not believe that it could consider a downward departure.
As the Supreme Court explains, what the Eighth Circuit should have done was remand the case to the district court for resentencing.
What is the life lesson?
The Eighth Circuit must be very busy - it didn't accept briefs on remand, it didn't read its own prior opinion, and it didn't read the record of the sentencing hearing. When the Supreme Court remands a case for reconsideration, you'd think that the case would get extra attention. Apparently not in the Eighth Circuit. Must be busy.