So What Principle Did Apprendi Actually Establish?

This wikilog article is a draft, it was not published yet.

by: Ryan • January 14, 2013 • no comments

Here's a SCOTUSblog recap of oral argument in US v. Alleyne, which has the potential to overrule US v Harris.

Justice Stephen G. Breyer, who went along with the outcome in Harris but has since developed strong doubts about it, :sought to put the focus on what “mandatory minimum” laws mean to the individual being sentenced. They mean, the Justice said, that the individual finds himself worse off because he gets a harsher sentence than he otherwise might have. The Court, he suggested, should not focus solely on the word “exposed,” as in what range of sentence is open to the judge, but rather on the actual impact from the perspective of the convicted individual.

Justice Scalia, noting that Breyer had long been a critic of the Apprendi rule itself, sarcastically remarked that :“Apprendi is so bad he [Breyer] wants to extend it.” In fact, Breyer did seem to be in favor of giving Apprendi some broader scope. (That, by the way, is the view of Apprendi that Justice Clarence Thomas has repeatedly championed, but he did not ask any questions or make any comments during the Alleyne argument.)