Mistretta v. United States

Congress passed the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, creating the independent U.S. Sentencing Commission — housed in the judicial branch and required to include at least three judges among its presidentially appointed members — to set binding sentencing Guidelines for federal courts, subject to limited appellate review. John Mistretta (defendant), indicted on federal drug charges, challenged the Guidelines as violating separation-of-powers and nondelegation principles; the district court rejected his argument (while expressing some reservations), he pled guilty and was sentenced under the Guidelines, and the case reached the Supreme Court on certiorari before the Eighth Circuit could rule, given its "imperative public importance."