Court Opinion

ID: 9574585
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:06:13.079189+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:44:12.331469
License: Public Domain

MURPHY, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
The Congressional sentencing ratio between powder and crack cocaine offenses was incorporated into the sentencing guidelines by the first United States Sentencing Commission. Although the Commission recently made some adjustments for crack sentences in its 2007 amendments by reducing base offense levels, the underlying guideline ratio between powder and crack remains the same. As an au*718thor2 of the 2002 Commission report to Congress that recommended reducing the disparity in cocaine sentencing, I am aware of the large amount of evidence cited there which undercut any continued validity for the policy reasons on which the disparate ratio was originally based. In its decision in Kimbrough, the Supreme Court cited the Commission’s report and authorized sentencing judges to vary downward from the advisory guidelines in crack cases on the basis of unwarranted disparity. 128 S.Ct. at 566-69. Since the Court’s opinion in Kimbrough dealt only with guideline sentencing (as did its other recent sentencing decisions in United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005), and Gall v. United States, — U.S. -, 128 S.Ct. 586, 169 L.Ed.2d 445 (2007)), the much criticized ratio remains in place for all sentences affected by statutory mandatory mínimums.
Sentencing courts are faced with a dilemma in trying to fashion fair and equitable sentences which are appropriate for the individual defendant, but which do not create unwarranted disparities with sentences for other defendants and other courts. See 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)(6). Today’s decision of our divided court reflects that dilemma with thoughtful opinions on both sides of the issue, but a satisfactory solution to the perceived unfairness of the great disparity in powder and crack sentencing can only be accomplished by Congress. Only Congress has the power to alter the cocaine sentencing ratio in the statutes which in turn affects the advisory guidelines. Although legislative proposals for change have been introduced, Congress has not yet been willing to act for change.
One of the most basic principles of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, 18 U.S.C. § 3551 et seq., and a major reason for its bipartisan support was to reduce sentencing disparity, to ensure that each federal judge would not set his or her own individual sentencing policy. See S.Rep. No. 98-225, at 41-46 (1983), U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1984, pp. 3182, 3224-3229; see also United States v. Mickelson, 433 F.3d 1050, 1053-55 (8th Cir.2006) (discussing reduction of sentencing disparity as rationale for Sentencing Reform Act). The approach advocated by the dissent would have just such a consequence of increasing sentencing disparity, with the potential for each judge to develop his or her cocaine policy ratio with dramatically different results within and between districts.
The Supreme Court counseled in Kim-brough that a sentencing court should not operate in a vacuum and “must take account of sentencing practices in other courts,” 128 S.Ct. at 574, and that it should also consider the disparate impact of the statutory mandatory mínimums as it weighs the “ § 3553(a) factors and any unwarranted disparity created by the crack/powder ratio itself.” Id. Rather than suggesting that a sentencing judge may develop his or her own policy ratio for the range of cocaine cases as the dissent proposes, in Kimbrough the Court approved a sentencing approach based on the “particular circumstances” of the defendant’s case. Id. at 576.
The first step for the sentencing court in cocaine cases still is “properly calculating and considering the advisory Guidelines range”; after that the court should proceed to consider the individual circumstances of the crime and the defendant with reference to the § 3553(a) factors. Id. at 575. Recognizing the unfairness that the 100 to 1 ratio can have, the Court authorized district judges “to conclude *719when sentencing a particular defendant that the crack/powder disparity yields a sentence ‘greater than necessary’ to achieve § 3553(a)’s purposes.” Id. The Court did not, however, authorize district judges to develop their own policy ratio to be applied in every cocaine case. In fact, the Court approvingly noted that the district court it was reviewing
did not purport to establish a ratio of its own. Rather, it appropriately framed its final determination in line with § 3553(a)’s overarching instruction to impose a sentence sufficient, but not greater than necessary [... ] to do justice in this case.
Id. (quotation omitted) (emphasis added). The role of the sentencing judge is not the same as that of a legislative policymaker. The sentencing focus must be on the “particular defendant” rather than on a whole category of cases. See id.
For these reasons, I concur in Judge Riley’s opinion. Perhaps the specter of myriad cocaine sentencing policies with uneven results across the country will move Congress to renew its interest in this critical subject which affects people’s lives in a way many perceive to be inequitable and unjust.

. Chair of the United States Sentencing Commission, 1999-2004.