Whether Congress intended The Fair Sentencing Act to more severely punish persons sentenced under 21 U.S.C. §856 in what is a departure from over 20 years of precedent and implemented in a manner contrary to the spirit and intent of the Act itself?

QUESTION PRESENTED FOR REVIEW The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 was passed with the intent to address the excessively harsh sentences given to those convicted of manufacturing and distributing crack cocaine. A provision in The Fair Sentencing Act amended United States Sentencing Guideline Section 2D1.1 which pertains generally to punishment levels for the unlawful manufacture and distribution of drugs. This amendment added a two-level sentencing enhancement for drug traffickers who also maintained a premises for the purpose of manufacturing or distributing a controlled substance otherwise codified as U.S.S.G. §2D1.1 (b)(12). When the Fair Sentencing Act was passed, a stand-alone offense for Maintaining a Drug-Involved Premise (21 U.S.C. §856) already existed and had been law since 1987. From the time of its enactment in 1987 until 2010 the base level offense for all offenses for Maintaining a Drug-Involved Premise was derived from the quantity and type of drugs involved in the offense from U.S.S.G. §2D1.1 without any enhancement as later provided under the Fair Sentencing Act in 2010. It was not until 2010 that the enhancement provision in U.S.S.G. §2D1.1(b)(12) was enacted. After 2010, in an effort to maximize sentence levels under the Sentencing Guidelines, the Government began adding the 2-level enhancement for maintaining a drug premises to base offense levels of those convicted of the exact same conduct under the stand-alone offense of Maintaining a Drug-Involved Premise (21 U.S.C. §856) in a clear departure from long-standing precedent. The result was harsher punishment for those convicted under 21 U.S.C §856 in opposition to the stated purpose of The Fair Sentencing Act. The foregoing raises the following question: Whether Congress intended The Fair Sentencing Act to more severely punish persons sentenced under 21 U.S.C. §856 in what is a departure from over 20 years of precedent and implemented in a manner contrary to the spirit and intent of the Act itself? 1