Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/20-1650_3dq3.pdf
Page Number: 1

(Slip Opinion) 

OCTOBER  TERM,  2021 

1 

Syllabus 

NOTE:  Where  it  is  feasible,  a  syllabus  (headnote)  will  be  released,  as  is 
being  done  in  connection  with  this  case,  at  the  time  the  opinion  is  issued. 
The  syllabus  constitutes  no  part  of  the  opinion  of  the  Court  but  has  been 
prepared  by  the  Reporter  of  Decisions  for  the  convenience  of  the  reader. 
See United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co., 200 U. S. 321, 337. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

Syllabus 

CONCEPCION v. UNITED STATES 

CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR 
THE FIRST CIRCUIT 

No. 20–1650.  Argued January 19, 2022—Decided June 27, 2022 

Congress passed the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 to correct the wide dis-
parity between crack and powder cocaine sentencing.  Section 2 of that 
Act increased the amount of crack cocaine needed to trigger a 5-to-40-
year sentencing range from 5 grams to 28 grams.  §2(a)(2), 124 Stat. 
2372.  The Fair Sentencing Act did not apply retroactively, but in 2011, 
the  Sentencing  Commission  amended  the  Sentencing  Guidelines  to
lower the Guidelines range for crack-cocaine offenses and applied that
reduction  retroactively  for  some  defendants.    In  2018,  Congress  en-
acted  the  First  Step  Act,  authorizing  district  courts  to  “impose  a  re-
duced sentence” on defendants serving sentences for certain crack-co-
caine  offenses  “as  if  sections  2  and  3  of  the  Fair  Sentencing  Act  . . . 
were in effect at the time the covered offense was committed.”  Pub. L. 
115–391, §404(b), 132 Stat. 5222.

In 2007, petitioner Carlos Concepcion pleaded guilty to one count of 
distributing  five  or  more  grams  of  crack  cocaine  in  violation  of  21 
U. S. C.  §841(a)(1),  and  he  was  sentenced  in  2009  to  19  years  (228 
months) in prison.  When Concepcion was sentenced, he qualified for 
sentencing as a “career offender.”  The career offender provision and 
other  enhancements  increased  Concepcion’s  Sentencing  Guidelines 
range from 57 to 71 months to 262 to 327 months. Because Concepcion
was sentenced as a career offender, he was not eligible for relief under 
the Sentencing Commission’s 2011 amendment. 

In 2019,  Concepcion filed a  pro se motion for a sentence reduction 
under the First Step Act.  He argued that he was serving a sentence 
for a “covered offense” because §2 of the Fair Sentencing Act “modified” 
the statutory penalties for his conviction under 21 U. S. C. §841(a)(1).
Concepcion contended that retroactive application of the Fair Sentenc-
ing Act lowered his Guidelines range from 262 to 327 months to 188 to