Frantz Depierre, Petitioner v. United States (564 U.S. 70)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 9, 2011 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 564 U.S. 70 · 131 S. Ct. 2225
- Docket
- No. 09-1533
- Argued
- February 28, 2011
- Decided
- June 9, 2011
- Term
- October Term 2010
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Sotomayor
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Kennedy, Justice Thomas, Justice Ginsburg, Justice Breyer, Justice Alito, Justice Sotomayor (wrote), Justice Kagan
- Concurring in the judgment
- Justice Scalia (wrote)
Oral argument transcript and advocates · Opinion on Justia
Opinion excerpt
Justice Sotomayor delivered the opinion of the Court. At the time of petitioner’s conviction and sentence, federal law mandated a minimum 10-year sentence for persons convicted of certain drug offenses, 21 U. S. C. § 841(a), including those involving 50 grams or more of “a mixture or substance . . . which contains cocaine base,” § 841(b)(1)(A)(iii), and a minimum 5-year sentence for offenses involving 5 grams or more of the same, §841(b)(1)(B)(iii). This case requires us to decide whether the term “cocaine base” as used in this statute refers generally to cocaine in its chemically basic form or exclusively to what is colloquially known as “crack cocaine.” We conclude that “cocaine base” means the former. I A As a matter of chemistry, cocaine is an alkaloid with the molecular formula C17H21N04. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 434 (2002). An alkaloid is a base— that is, a compound capable of reacting with an acid to form a salt. Id., at 54, 180; see also Brief for Individual Physicians and Scientists as Amici Curiae 2-8 (hereinafter Physicians Brief). Cocaine is derived from the coca plant native to South America. The leaves of the coca plant can be processed with water, kerosene, sodium carbonate, and sulfuric acid to produce a pastelike substance. R. Weiss, S. Mirin, & R. Bartel, Cocaine 10 (2d ed. 1994). When dried, the resulting “coca paste” can be vaporized…
Excerpt of a 34,396-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.