Pulsifer v. United States (601 U.S. 124)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided March 15, 2024 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 601 U.S. 124 · 144 S. Ct. 718
- Decided
- March 15, 2024
- Term
- October Term 2023
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice Kagan
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
PRELIMINARY PRINT Volume 601 U. S. Part 1 Pages 124–186 OFFICIAL REPORTS OF THE SUPREME COURT March 15, 2024 Page Proof Pending Publication REBECCA A. WOMELDORF reporter of decisions NOTICE: This preliminary print is subject to formal revision before the bound volume is published. Users are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D.C. 20543, pio@supremecourt.gov, of any typographical or other formal errors. Syllabus PULSIFER v. UNITED STATES certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the eighth circuit No. 22–340. Argued October 2, 2023—Decided March 15, 2024 After pleading guilty to distributing at least 50 grams of methamphet- amine, petitioner Mark Pulsifer faced a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison. At sentencing, he sought to take advantage of the “safety valve” provision of federal sentencing law, which allows a sentencing court to disregard the statutory minimum if a defendant meets fve criteria. Among those is the requirement, set out in Para- graph (f)(1), that the sentencing court fnd that— (1) the defendant does not have— (A) more than 4 criminal history points, excluding any criminal history points resulting from a 1-point offense, as determined under the sentencing guidelines; (B) a prior 3-point offense, as determined under the sentencing guidelines; and Page Proof Pending Publication…
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