James Eric Moore v. United States (555 U.S. 1)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided October 14, 2008 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 555 U.S. 1 · 129 S. Ct. 4
- Decided
- October 14, 2008
- Term
- October Term 2008
- Vote
- 9–0
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Per Curiam. James Eric Moore was convicted of one count of possessing cocaine base with intent to distribute, a violation of 21 U. S. C. §§ 841(a)(1) and (b)(1). Given the quantity of crack cocaine, the presentence report calculated that Moore’s sentencing range under the United States Sentencing Guidelines was 151 to 188 months. At sentencing, Moore asked the District Court to impose a below-Guidelines sentence in light of our decision in United States v. Booker, 543 U. S. 220 (2005), and the Guidelines’ disparate treatment of similar amounts of crack and powder cocaine. The District Court refused, saying: “With regard to the crack and powder cocaine difference, that is the law. Pm applying the law as it currently stands. If that is going to be changed, that is a congressional matter. Congress is the one who looks at the guidelines and decides whether or not they should be put in — in force.... It isn’t the judges. It’s the lawmakers, and I have taken an oath to apply the law, and that’s what I will do in this sentencing.” App. D to Pet. for Cert. 55-56. The District Court sentenced Moore to 188 months of imprisonment and six years of supervised release. Moore appealed, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed his conviction and sentence. United States v. Moore, 470 F. 3d 767 (2006). In response to his claim that the District Court should have…
Excerpt of a 4,286-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.