Whether a state conviction for distributing a drug that includes substances not regulated under the federal Controlled Substances Act qualifies as a 'controlled substance offense' for purposes of the career offender guideline

QUESTION PRESENTED Romone Jackson pled guilty to possessing more than fifty grams of methamphetamine with the intent to deliver. The district court applied the career offender enhancement based on Jackson’s prior state court drug convictions in Iowa and Nebraska. As a result, Jackson had a total adjusted offense level of 31 with a criminal history category VI for an advisory Guidelines range of 188 to 235 months. Without the career offender enhancement, his base offense level would have been a level 29 with a criminal history category IV for an _ advisory Guidelines range of 121-151 months. Iowa’s criminal statute defines marijuana and cocaine to include substances that are not similarly regulated under the federal Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”). As this Court previously acknowledged, the circuits are divided on whether to apply state or federal law in deciding whether a prior conviction qualifies as a “controlled substance offense” under the career offender guideline. See Guerrant v. United States, 142 S. Ct. 640 (2022) (Sotomayor, J., concurring) (identifying circuit split). The time to resolve the circuit split is now. The question presented is: Whether a state conviction for distributing a drug that includes substances not regulated under the federal Controlled Substances Act qualifies as a “controlled substance offense” for purposes of the career offender guideline. ii