Kimbrough v. United States
United States Supreme Court
552 U.S. 85 (2007)
Kimbrough (defendant) pleaded guilty to cocaine and crack-cocaine offenses carrying a 19-year guideline minimum, but the district court imposed only the statutory 15-year minimum instead, expressly noting its disagreement with the Guidelines' 100-to-1 crack-versus-powder disparity — a ratio the Sentencing Commission itself had since concluded, through its own research, was unjustified. The government appealed, and the court of appeals vacated the sentence as unreasonable; Kimbrough sought Supreme Court review.
Whether a federal district court is required to apply the 100-to-1 sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine set forth in the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, and whether failing to do so is an abuse of discretion.