United States Sentencing Commission

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The United States Sentencing Commission is an independent agency of the Judicial Branch of the United States Government. It is responsible for articulating the sentencing guidelines of United States Federal Courts. The Commission promulgates the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which replaced the prior system of indeterminate sentencing that allowed trial judges to give sentences ranging from probation to the maximum statutory punishment for the offense.

The commission was created by the Sentencing Reform Act provisions of the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984. The Constitutionality of the commission was challenged as a congressional encroachment on the power of the executive branch but upheld in the U.S. Supreme Court case of Mistretta v. United States, 488 U.S. 361 (1989). Unlike many special purpose “study” commissions within the executive branch, Congress established the U.S. Sentencing Commission as a permanent, independent agency within the judicial branch. The seven voting members on the Commission are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, and serve six-year terms. Commission members may be re-appointed to further terms with the consent of the Senate. No more than three of the commissioners may be federal judges and no more than four may belong to the same political party. The Attorney General is an ex officio member of the Commission, as is the chair of the U.S. Parole Commission.

[edit] Current membership

The following table lists commissioners as of January 2007.

Member Occupation Date appointed
Ricardo H. Hinojosa (Chair) Judge, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas June 26, 2003
Ruben Castillo (Vice chair) Judge, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois November 12, 1999
William K. Sessions III (Vice chair) Chief Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont November 12, 1999
John R. Steer (Vice chair) Former general counsel, United States Sentencing Commission November 12, 1999
Dabney Friedrich (Commissioner) Former White House Assistant Counsel March 1, 2007
Beryl A. Howell (Commissioner) Managing Director, Stroz Friedberg, LLC November 21, 2004
Michael E. Horowitz (Commissioner) Partner, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft June 26, 2003
Benton J. Campbell (Ex-officio) Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division
Edward F. Reilly, Jr. (Ex-officio) Chair, U.S. Parole Commission

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