I recently gave a short talk about the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent federal setnencing decisions. My audience was a group of lawyers and judges gathered for the monthly meeting of my local Inn of Court in Bedford, NH. Since few members of this group practice criminal law–let alone federal criminal law–I decided to comment on some of the larger jurisprudential issues, rather than on the practical aspects of the cases. My written materials follow:
As Fruit Flies Are To Genetics,
The U.S. Supreme Court’s Sentencing Decisions Are To Law
Introduction
The fruit fly is a small creature, easy to grow in the laboratory, that reproduces every two weeks. Due to its short generation time, fecundity and simplicity it has been used as a model organism by geneticists for close to 100 years.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s sentencing decisions are the fruit flies of American jurisprudence. In the span of one human generation—from 1988 to the present—federal sentencing has undergone a series of drastic mutations. These mutations were structural in nature and they touched upon many of the basic issues in American law—
