U.S. TO CHALLENGE DRUG SENTENCE RULING

The U.S. government moved swiftly Friday to challenge a federal appeals
court ruling that threatens the validity of thousands of drug trafficking
sentences. Wasting no time, Solicitor General Theodore Olson authorized
federal prosecutors to seek a rehearing of a decision Thursday by a panel
of the 9th U.S. Circuit Co8urt of Appeals in San Francisco. By a 2-1 vote,
the panel declared unconstitutional elements of a 1984 federal law that
allows judges to decide following a jury's verdict how much drugs were
found on the defendant.

If the amount is sufficiently large, the judge can tack on time to a
convict's sentence exceeding the statutory maximum.

The appeals court panel said it is up to the jury, not the judge, to
determine the quantity of drugs found on a defendant. The ruling, if
upheld, could also mean an end to mandatory minimum sentences in federal
drug cases. That is because those parts of the law that were declared
unconstitutional also involve the controversial mandatory minimums, which
give a judge no discretion in sentencing.