# United States Sentencing Commission

The United States Sentencing Commission is an independent agency of the judicial branch of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for articulating the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines for the 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. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C.
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 but upheld by the Supreme Court in Mistretta v. United States, 488 U.S. 361 (1989).
The U.S. Sentencing Commission was established by Congress as a permanent, independent agency within the judicial branch. The seven members of the Commission are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, for a term of six years. The Judicial Conference offers names of potential nominees to the President for nomination. Commission members may be reappointed to one additional term, also with the advice and consent of the Senate. Some Commission members have been appointed to finish out the term of prior members instead of starting their own 6-year term, and therefore, not all Commission members have served six years or more. Three of the members must be federal judges, and no more than four may belong to the same political party. The Attorney General or his designee and the chair of the United States Parole Commission sit as ex officio, non-voting members of the Commission. The Commission requires a quorum of at least four voting members in order to promulgate amendments to the Sentencing Guidelines.
The Commission lacked full membership from 2014 to 2022. On August 4, 2022, the Senate confirmed President Biden's seven nominees to the Commission; all the confirmed members were sworn in the next day.

## Current membership

As of December 2024:
| Title | Member | Party | Occupation | Date appointed | Term expiration |
| Chair | Carlton W. Reeves | Democratic | Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi | August 5, 2022 | October 31, 2027 |
| Vice Chair | L. Felipe Restrepo | Democratic | Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit | August 5, 2022 | October 31, 2025 |
| Vice Chair | Laura Mate | Democratic | Director of Sentencing Resource Counsel | August 5, 2022 | October 31, 2027 |
| Vice Chair | Claire McCusker Murray | Republican | Former Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General | August 5, 2022 | October 31, 2027 |
| Commissioner | Candice C. Wong | Republican | Assistant United States Attorney, United States Attorney for the District of Columbia | August 5, 2022 | October 31, 2027 |
| Commissioner | Vacant | — | – | – | October 31, 2029 |
| Commissioner | Vacant | — | – | – | October 31, 2029 |
| (Ex officio Commissioner) (non-voting) | Patricia K. Cushwa | | Acting Chair, United States Parole Commission | – | – |
| (Ex officio Commissioner) (non-voting) (Attorney General's designee) | Jonathan J. Wroblewski | | Director, Office of Policy and Legislation, U.S. Department of Justice | – | – |

## Former membership

As listed on the U.S. Sentencing Commission's website:
Former Members of the U.S. Sentencing Commission :
| Title | Member | Occupation | Date appointed | Term expiration |
| Chairman | William W. Wilkins, Jr. | Judge, U.S. District Circuit, South Carolina; subsequently elevated to U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit | 1985 | 1994 |
| | Stephen G. Breyer | Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit (later Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States) | 1985 | 1989 |
| | George E. MacKinnon | Senior Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit | 1985 | 1991 |
| | Ilene H. Nagel | Professor of Law and Sociology, Indiana University School of Law | 1985 | 1994 |
| | Helen G. Corrothers | Member, U.S. Parole Commission | 1985 | 1991 |
| | Michael K. Block | Professor of Law and Economics, University of Arizona | 1985 | 1989 |
| | Paul H. Robinson | Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School | 1985 | 1988 |
| Vice Chair 1994–1996 | A. David Mazzone | Judge, U.S. District Court, D. Massachusetts | 1990 | 1996 |
| | Julie E. Carnes | Assistant U.S. Attorney, N.D. Georgia. Subsequently was appointed as a federal district court judge for the Northern District of Georgia and continued to serve on the Commission.) | 1990 | 1996 |
| Vice Chair 1994–1998 | Michael S. Gelacak | Attorney, McNair Firm, Washington, D.C. | 1990 | 1998 |
| Chairman, 1994–1998 | Richard P. Conaboy | Senior Judge, U.S. District Court, Middle District of Pennsylvania | 1994 | 1998 |
| | Deanell R. Tacha | Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit | 1994 | 1998 |
| Vice Chair, 1995–97 (holdover status ended 10/21/98) | Michael Goldsmith | Professor of Law, Brigham Young University Law School | 1994 | 1998 |
| | Wayne A. Budd | Attorney, Goodwin, Procter & Hoar, Boston, MA | 1994 | 1997 |
| | Joe Kendall | Judge, U.S. District Court, N.D. Texas | 1999 | 2002 |
| | Sterling Johnson, Jr. | Judge, U.S. District Court, E.D. New York | 1999 | 2002 |
| Chair, 1999–2004 | Diana E. Murphy | Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit | 1999 | 2004 |
| | Michael E. O’Neill | Assistant Professor, George Mason University School of Law | 1999 | 2005 |
| Vice Chair, 1999 – 2007 | John R. Steer | General Counsel, U.S. Sentencing Commission | 1999 | 2007 |
| | Michael E. Horowitz | Attorney, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, Washington, DC | 2003 | 2008 |
| Chair, 2009–2010; Vice Chair, 1999–2009 | William K. Sessions III | Judge and later elevated to Chief Judge, U.S. District Court, District of Vermont | 1999 | 2010 |
| Vice Chair, 1999–2010 | Ruben Castillo | Judge, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois | 1999 | 2010 |
| | Beryl A. Howell | Executive Managing Director and General Counsel, Stroz Friedberg, LLC, Washington, DC; subsequently appointed to the U.S. District Court, District of Columbia and later Chief Judge. | 2004 | 2012 |
| Vice Chair, 2008–2012 | William B. Carr, Jr. | Adjunct Professor of Law, Widener Law School, Wilmington, DE | 2008 | 2012 |
| Chair, 2003–2010; Vice Chair, 2011–2014 | Ricardo H. Hinojosa | Judge and later Chief Judge, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas | 2003 | 2014 |
| Vice Chair, 2010–2014 | Ketanji Brown Jackson | Attorney, Morrison & Foerster LLP, later appointed to Judge, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia; later appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States | 2010 | 2014 |
| | Dabney L. Friedrich | Associate Counsel, Office of Counsel to the President, Washington, DC, later appointed to Judge, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia | 2006 according to USSC (February 28, 2007 according to Congress.gov) | 2016 |
| Chair, December 22, 2010-2016 | Patti B. Saris | Judge and later Chief Judge, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts | December 22, 2010 | 2016 |
| Acting Chair, January 3, 2017-2018 | William H. Pryor Jr. | Judge, U.S. Circuit Court, Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals | June 6, 2013 | 2018 |
| | Rachel E. Barkow | Segal Family Professor of Regulatory Law and Policy, New York University School of Law | June 2013 | 2018 according to USSC (January 2019 according to NYU Law) |
| | Danny C. Reeves | Judge, and later Chief Judge, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Kentucky | March 21, 2017 | March 2021 |
| | John Gleeson | Former Judge, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York | August 5, 2022 | December 2024 |
| | Claria Horn Boom | Judge, U.S. District Court, Western District of Kentucky and Eastern District of Kentucky | August 5, 2022 | December 2024 |

## "Drugs Minus Two Amendment"

On April 10, 2014, the Commission unanimously voted to approve the "Drugs Minus Two Amendment." The "Drugs Minus Two Amendment" changed the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines to "reduce the applicable sentencing guideline range for most federal drug trafficking offenses." The Commission voted to make the Amendment retroactive on July 18, 2014, "thereby allowing eligible offenders serving a previously imposed term of imprisonment to file a motion under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) for a sentence reduction."

## 2015 actions

After a visit to a federal prison in Oklahoma by President Barack Obama in July 2015, the Commission issued new retroactive sentencing guidelines in October which lowered sentences for many drug offenders. The sentencing panel estimated that roughly 46,000 of 100,000 drug offenders serving federal sentences would qualify for early release. 6,000 would be released in November but $^1$/$_3$ of those inmates were to be turned over to I.C.E. for deportation proceedings. The commission's change represents an overall change in prosecution of drug-related offences. In response to the change, senators, in a bipartisan effort, are attempting to reduce minimum sentences for these offenses.

## Judicial Conference of the United States Commissioner Candidate Suggestions

In April 2021, the Judicial Conference of the United States sent the following candidate suggestions to President Biden: Judge Luis Felipe Restrepo (to represent a Democratic seat), Judge Denise Jefferson Casper (Democratic seat), Judge Abdul Kallon (Democratic seat), Judge Carol Bagley Amon (Republican seat), Judge Federico Moreno (Republican seat), and Judge Michael Seabright (Republican seat).

## Past Presidential Commissioner Nominations
### President Barack Obama Nominees

On April 20, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated William K. Sessions III, of Vermont, to be Chair of the Commission.
On July 23, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson to be a Commissioner.
On April 28, 2010, President Barack Obama nominated Judge Patti B. Saris as Commissioner and Chair, and nominated Dabney Langhorne Friedrich as a Commissioner (for a second term).
In April 2012, President Barack Obama nominated Senior District Judge Charles R. Breyer of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California as a Commissioner.
In April 2013, President Barack Obama nominated Rachel Elise Barkow, of New York, to be a Member of the United States Sentencing Commission; Charles R. Breyer, of California, to be a Member of the United States Sentencing Commission; and William H. Pryor Jr., of Alabama, to be a Member of the United States Sentencing Commission.
On September 9, 2015, President Barack Obama nominated Judge Richard F. Boulware and Judge Charles R. Breyer as Commissioners.
On March 15, 2016, President Barack Obama nominated Judge Danny C. Reeves as a Commissioner.
On January 17, 2017, President Barack Obama nominated Charles R. Breyer for reappointment and Danny C. Reeves as a Commissioner.

### President Donald Trump Nominees

In March of 2018, President Donald Trump said he intended to nominate four candidates to the Commission: "Judge William Pryor of Alabama, Judge Luis Felipe Restrepo of Pennsylvania, Judge Henry Hudson of Virginia and Georgetown University law professor William Graham Otis."
On August 12, 2020, President Donald Trump nominated five individuals to join the Sentencing Commission: Judge K. Michael Moore, of Florida, as Chairman of the United States Sentencing Commission; Judge Claria Horn Boom, of Kentucky, as a Commissioner of the United States Sentencing Commission; Judge Henry E. Hudson, of Virginia, as a Commissioner of the United States Sentencing Commission; John G. Malcolm (Vice President for the Institute for Constitutional Government and the Director of the Meese Center for Legal & Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation), as a Commissioner of the United States Sentencing Commission; and Judge Luis Felipe Restrepo, of Pennsylvania, as a Commissioner of the United States Sentencing Commission.