These briefs on a series of questions, including whether the government is required to prove knowledge of drug type and quantity to trigger mandatory minimum and increased maximum sentences in drug cases were filed in the 9^th Circuit by the federal defender and sentencing resource counsel in LA.

 Brief of Amicus Curiae National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in Support of Defendants-Appellants.

Mandatory minimum sentences require judges to impose inappropriately harsh sentences that waste tax dollars and overcrowd prisons with low-level, nonviolent offenders.

Amicus curiae brief of Families Against Mandatory Minimums and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Brief of Amici Juvenile Law Center, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, et al. Supporting Respondent Jerri Smiley (full list of amici in appendix to attached brief).

Amicus curiae brief of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) and Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) in support of defendant-appellant/cross-appellee Polizzi.

Numerous courts have held that a court of appeals may not order an increase in a criminal defendant’s sentence in the absence of an appeal or cross-appeal by the Government. The Eighth and Tenth Circuits, however, have held that courts of appeals may sua sponte order increases in a defendant’s sentence when the district court has failed to impose a statutory mandatory minimum sentence, even if the Government has not appealed or cross-appealed the sentence.

Brief of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and Families Against Mandatory Minimums as Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioner.

Brief for the Constitution Project, Drug Policy Alliance, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, as Amici Curiae.

Corrected En Banc Amici Curiae Brief of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and Families Against Mandatory Minimums In Support of Petitioner-Appellant

Brief of the Cato Institute and National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as Amici Curiae in Support of Defendant-Appellant’s Petition for Rehearing by Panel and Rehearing En Banc

Nation’s Criminal Defense Bar Applauds U.S. Sentencing Commission Vote Cutting Federal Prison Terms for Drug Offenses -- Washington, DC (July 18, 2014) – This afternoon, the U.S. Sentencing Commission took a significant step, long urged by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) and numerous allied organizations in the criminal justice community, to cut federal prison terms for drug offenses. The reform adopted today retroactively decreases the drug table set forth in U.S. Sentencing Guidelines §2D1.1 by two-offense levels across all drug types. 

Nation’s Criminal Defense Bar Applauds Bipartisan Reform Legislation on Mandatory Minimum Sentencing -- Washington, DC (March 20, 2013) – Today, Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced the Justice Safety Valve Act of 2013. If enacted, this legislation would restore essential judicial discretion to permit a sentence below harsh and inflexible statutory minimums based upon the court’s assessment of the particular facts and circumstances of the case and the offender. 

Criminal Defense Bar Applauds Retroactive Federal Crack Cocaine Sentencing Guideline - Washington, DC (June 30, 2011) – When the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 was signed into law last year, something sad happened. Defendants who were arrested for possession or distribution of cocaine base, or crack, the day the law went into effect no longer faced the 100-to-1 sentencing disparity and draconian mandatory minimum sentences of the 1986 law for possession of as little as 5 grams of crack, which was treated as severely as 500 grams, or over a pound, of powder cocaine.