News

A sheriff’s deputy in Washington County, Oregon, discriminated against two lawyers, both women of color, a jury found Wednesday, according to the…

A Spanish translation of the 2025 Guidelines Manual (effective November 1, 2025) is available in PDF format. This translation is provided as a public service for general information purposes only. It is not an official Commission publication.

Today, a unanimous Supreme Court held that restitution under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act of 1996 (MVRA) is plainly criminal punishment for purposes of the Ex Post Facto Clause. Ellinger v. United States, No…

Today, the United States Supreme Court unanimously held that Congress did not clearly authorize convictions under both 18 U.S.C. §§ 924(c)(1)(A)(i) and (j) for a single act that violates both provisions. One act that violates both provisions therefore may spawn only one conviction. See…

The Federal Defender’s Office for Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, working in collaboration with the Federal Capital Trial Project, will host a regional training on the Fundamentals of Federal Capital Defense on January 15, 2026,…

Sigh. "There is unrebutted evidence that [defendant's] lead counsel at trial fell asleep, more than once, during direct examinations of witnesses counsel then cross-examined in this capital murder trial." Which, sadly for the defendant, is the first line of the dissent in this…

You know when there’s a chart in the procedural history section of a habeas case that you're going to need to buckle up. And so it is in the Fourth Circuit this week, where a Baltimore drug deal was broken up by cops and the…

Today, the Supreme Court reversed the Eleventh Circuit in an important win for federal prisoners seeking collateral relief. See Bowe v. United States, No. 24538 (Jan. 9, 2026) opinion.

In 2008, Mr…

Federal prosecutors will not seek the death penalty for Matthew Farwell, accused of killing 23-year-old Sandra Birchmore while she was pregnant. See…

A judge disqualified John Sarcone, the “acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York,” from overseeing investigations into New York Attorney General Letitia James,…