Here a divided en banc court from the Ninth Circuit reversed a prior panel’s controversial decision and held that Apprendi did not render the provisions of the Government’s principal drug enforcement statute, 21 U.S.C. § 841, facially unconstitutional.

Last summer, a panel from the Ninth Circuit infuriated threw Federal prosecutors ...

United States v. Sabbeth, 277 F.3d 94 (2nd Cir. 2002) (Judge Cabranes)
United States v. McIntosh, 280 F.3d 479 (5th Cir. 2002) (Judge Barksdale)

In both of these cases, and for substantially identical reasons, the Second and Fifth Circuits agreed that the recent amendments to the money laundering Guidelines (which ...

This case concerned a Federal border agent’s stop of a minivan carrying two adults and three children on an unpaved road in a remote area of southern Arizona. The agent was conducting vehicle checkpoints on the road, which was located some 30 miles north of the border, and which was ...

In the 12/24/01 issue of P&J, we noted that the First Circuit had adopted a new per se rule for awarding downward departures based on extraordinary family circumstances (pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 5H1.6): the defendant must be found to be “irreplaceable” to his or her family before a court can ...

United States v. Sabbeth, 277 F.3d 94 (2nd Cir. 2002) (Judge Cabranes)
United States v. McIntosh, 280 F.3d 479 (5th Cir. 2002) (Judge Barksdale)

In both of these cases, and for substantially identical reasons, the Second and Fifth Circuits agreed that the recent amendments to the money laundering Guidelines (which ...