In 2004 and 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Blakely v. Washington and United States v. Booker, respectively.  These two landmark Supreme Court decisions redefined the constitutional landscape of criminal sentencing, presenting the opportunity for federal and state policymakers to consider whether their sentencing systems should be revised and, if so, how.  The Sentencing Committee has used the extensive experience and expertise of its bipartisan membership to promote a national debate on sentencing and revisions to state and federal sentencing guidelines. The Sentencing Committee has developed specific, consensus recommendations for revising sentencing laws to comport with the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court decisions and continues to advocate for them.

Co-Chairs

Philip Heymann
James Barr Ames Professor of Law, Harvard Law School; Deputy Attorney General, Clinton Administration , 1993-1994

Edwin Meese III
Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow in Public Policy at the Heritage Foundation; Attorney General, 1985-1988

Members

Hon. Renee Cardwell Hughes
Judge, Court of Common Pleas, First Judicial District, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Zachary W. Carter
Partner, Dorsey & Whitney LLP; United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, 1993-1999

Paul Cassell
Ronald N. Boyce Presidential Endowed Chair in Criminal Law, University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law; Judge, United States District Court for the District of Utah, 2002-2007

James E. Felman
Partner, Kynes, Markman & Felman, P.A., Tampa, Florida; Co-chair, Committee on Sentencing of the American Bar Association; member, Practitioners’ Advisory Group to the United States Sentencing Commission, 1994-2009

Hon. Nancy Gertner
Judge, United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts

Isabel Gomez
Former Director, Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission; former Judge, Hennepin County Circuit Court, Minnesota

Thomas W. Hillier II
Federal Public Defender, Western District of Washington

Miriam A. Krinsky
Lecturer, UCLA School of Public Policy; Assistant United States Attorney, Central District of California, 1987-2002

Hon. Jon O. Newman
Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

Barbara Tombs
Executive Director, District of Columbia Sentencing and Criminal Code Revision Commission; former senior fellow, Center on Sentencing and Corrections, Vera Institute of Justice; former Director, Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission; Director, Kansas Sentencing Commission, 1995-2003

Ronald Wright
Professor of Law, Wake Forest University School of Law

Former Members

Samuel Alito (2004-2006; resigned upon confirmation to United States Supreme Court)
Associate Justice, United States Supreme Court; Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 1990-2006

Norman Maleng (2004-2007; deceased)
State’s Attorney, King County, Washington, 1978-2007

Thomas Perez (2004-2009; resigned when sworn in as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Division, United States Department of Justice)
Assistant Professor and Director of Clinical Law Programs, University of Maryland Law School, 2001-2007; United States Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, 1988-1999

Reporters

Frank Bowman
Floyd R. Gibson Missouri Endowed Professor of Law, University of Missouri School of Law

David N. Yellen
Dean and Professor of Law, Loyola University Chicago School of Law

AFFILIATIONS ARE LISTED FOR PURPOSES OF IDENTIFICATION ONLY