Almendarez-Torres v. United States
Headline: Court upholds treating prior aggravated-felony deportation as a sentencing enhancement, allowing judges to impose much longer prison terms for returning deported immigrants without requiring the prior conviction to be charged in the indictment.
Holding: The Court held that the statute’s increased penalty for deported immigrants with prior aggravated-felony convictions is a sentencing enhancement, not a separate crime, so the government need not allege that prior conviction in the indictment.
- Prosecutors do not have to allege prior aggravated-felony convictions in the indictment.
- Judges may impose much longer prison terms at sentencing when prior convictions are admitted or proved.
- Deported immigrants with serious past convictions face higher sentences without separate criminal charges.
Summary
Background
Hugo Almendarez-Torres, a deported noncitizen, pleaded guilty to being in the United States after deportation. At sentencing he admitted prior aggravated-felony convictions. The District Court applied a higher penalty under the statute and sentenced him to 85 months; the Fifth Circuit affirmed. The legal dispute asks whether the higher punishment in 8 U.S.C. §1326(b)(2) creates a separate crime that must be charged, or merely increases punishment for recidivists.
Reasoning
The majority examined the statute’s text, structure, legislative history, and the long tradition of treating prior convictions as sentencing factors. It concluded Congress intended subsection (b)(2) to authorize an enhanced penalty for recidivists rather than to define a distinct offense. The Court also declined to apply the “constitutional doubt” rule, finding no grave constitutional concern, and held the Constitution does not require jury proof of the prior conviction for purposes of imposing the higher maximum sentence in this case.
Real world impact
The decision means prosecutors need not allege prior aggravated-felony convictions in the indictment under §1326(b)(2); judges may consider admitted or proved prior convictions at sentencing to increase the maximum term. Deported noncitizens with serious past convictions face higher sentences without a separate charge. The ruling resolves a split among appellate courts but leaves open procedural protections for defendants who contest prior convictions.
Dissents or concurrances
Justice Scalia dissented, arguing the statute can reasonably be read as creating a separate offense and that constitutional doubts should lead to treating the prior conviction as an element requiring indictment and jury proof.
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