Whether a district court can delegate to a probation officer the determination of drug testing frequency during supervised release

This Petition asks this Court to resolve a split among the federal circuit courts on a question of federal criminal sentencing procedure. If a criminal defendant receives a term of supervised release, the district court will specify the conditions that the defendant must follow. See 18 U.S.C. § 3583. As part of supervised release, a defendant must receive “ a drug test within 15 days of release on supervised release and at least 2 periodic drug tests thereafter (as determined by the court) for use of a controlled substance. ” 18 U.S.C. § 3583(d). A plurality of the Circuits hold that statute requires that the district court judge determine the number and/or frequency of any drug tests that the defendant will face while on su-pervised release, regardless of whether the testing is imposed as a special condition or mandatory condition of supervised release . The Sixth Circuit below, however, believed that the district court could delegate the issue to the probation officer when testing is ordered as a special condition of supervised release. To resolve the split, this Petition asks the Court to decide the following question: 1. Did the district court below err in imposing as a special condition of supervised release a requirement that “[t] he defendant… participate in a program of testing and/or treatment for drug and/or alcohol abuse, as directed by the proba-tion officer, until such time as the defendant is released from the program by the probation officer. ”