Steven Hadley Hassan v. United States
FifthAmendment HabeasCorpus Securities
Does the U.S. Constitution authorize Congress to transfer lawmaking authority to the U.S. Sentencing Commission?
Questions Presented to the Court Te ; : 1) The U.S. Constitution, through Article One, grants Congress the authority to make or change federal laws. This includes the creation of criminal statutes and fixing their associated penalties: Q1) Does the U.S. Constitution authorize or allow Congress to transfer this lawmaking/changing authority, in any way, to the U.S. Sentencing Commission? 2) Federal Sentencing Guidelines Manual Special Instruction §2G2.1(d)(1) directs Prosecutors/Courts to utilize a Unit of Prosecution which differs from the Unit of Prosecution found in the text of 18 U.S.C. §2251(c). This change effectively allows the double jeopardy clause to be circumvented: . ; : Q1) By what authority is the Sentencing Commission allowed to unilaterally resolve te, the ambiguity in a congressional statute like 18 U.S.C. §2251(c)? : . os 7 _ Q2) If the Sentencing Commission has somehow been given the power to . . i ; sya unilaterally interpret congressional intent, then make whatever statutory changes : ae they desire, how are the basic tenets of democracy, such as open debate among the peoples representatives, upheld? Q3) One function of Special Instruction §2G2.1(d)(1) is to provide a path for prosecutors to bypass the protections of the 5 Amendment. Does this action in of itself violate the due process clauses of the 5‘ and 6» Amendments? i . : List of