Circuit split · criminal sentencing
Whether U.S. Sentencing Guidelines § 5E1 is valid
1 federal appellate case on this question, each acknowledging the disagreement in its own words.
- United States v. May52 F3D 885
Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals · April 13, 1995
“1994), the Second Circuit Court of Appeals noted the existence of a split in the circuits as to the validity of § 5E1.” — Acknowledges a circuit split
Empirical analysis of this case →
The provision at issue
28 U.S.C. § 994 — Duties of the Commission
“(a) The Commission, by affirmative vote of at least four members of the Commission, and pursuant to its rules and regulations and consistent with all pertinent provisions of any Federal statute shall promulgate and distribute to all courts of the United States and to the United States Probation System— (1) guidelines, as described in this section, for use of a sentencing court in determining the sentence to be imposed in a criminal case, including— (A) a determination whether to impose a sentence to probation, a fine, or a term of …”Read the full section →
The other side of the split
Decisions the acknowledging court(s) named as the opposing or joined side, quoted in the acknowledging opinion's own words.
- Discussed · 7th Cir.United States v. Turner998 F.2d 536
“The Turner court noted that Congress told the Commission to consider “the deterrent effect a particular sentence may have on the commission of the offense by others.” 28 U.S.C.” — United States v. May, acknowledging the split
- Declined to follow · 3rd Cir.United States v. Spiropoulos976 F.2d 167
- Joined by · 2nd Cir.United States v. Leonard37 F.3d 32
“In adopting the seventh circuit’s analysis, the Leonard court stated, The Third Circuit’s ruling unnecessarily restricts the guideline to serving as a re-coupment measure without exploring its functional role within the sentencing scheme....” — United States v. May, acknowledging the split
What the split turns on
Cases are grouped by the legal question they announce a split on, classified from the court's own acknowledgment sentence. Verified acknowledgments only. Counter-side decisions are extracted from the acknowledging opinions' own text and linked only when the citation resolves in this corpus. See all circuit splits.