Lecturer Adam Mortara, 01, Argues Before SCOTUS in Federal Sentencing Guidelines Case

Justices Weigh Scope of Federal Sentencing Guidelines

Beckles argued that because the guidelines were vague, they denied him due process, which would have been fair notice that possessing a sawed-off shotgun would be considered a violent crime.

But Adam Mortara, the attorney appointed by the court to defend the lower court ruling, claimed Beckles’s due process rights weren’t violated because the guidelines are non-binding.

During oral arguments Monday, Mortara said judges base their sentences on the facts of the case, not the guidelines alone. He claimed only 25 percent of career offenders in 2015 got within the recommended range.

“And that is what is, in fact, happening, because judges are looking at the facts and they are not acting like automatons blindly adhering to the guidelines,” he said.

Read more at The Hill