Kimbrough v. United States

E649387

United States Supreme Court case criminal sentencing case

Kimbrough v. United States is a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that federal judges may deviate from the Sentencing Guidelines, particularly the crack–powder cocaine disparity, based on policy disagreements with those guidelines.

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All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
Kimbrough v. United States canonical	2
Derrick Kimbrough v. United States	1
United States v. Kimbrough, 174 F. App’x 798 (4th Cir. 2006)	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T7193356 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Kimbrough v. United States
Context triple: [United States v. Booker, subsequentInterpretationBy, Kimbrough v. United States]

A. Abrams v. United States
Abrams v. United States was a 1919 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld the conviction of antiwar activists under federal law and is best known for Justice Holmes’s famous dissent articulating the “marketplace of ideas” concept in free speech jurisprudence.
B. Reynolds v. United States
Reynolds v. United States is an 1879 U.S. Supreme Court case that established the distinction between protected religious belief and regulable religiously motivated conduct, holding that the Free Exercise Clause does not excuse individuals from compliance with otherwise valid criminal laws such as those banning polygamy.
C. Yates v. United States
Yates v. United States is a 1957 U.S. Supreme Court decision that significantly narrowed the application of the Smith Act by distinguishing between the advocacy of abstract doctrine and the advocacy of concrete action to overthrow the government.
D. Bond v. United States
Bond v. United States is a 2011 U.S. Supreme Court case that clarified an individual’s ability to raise Tenth Amendment challenges to federal statutes, reinforcing limits on federal power in favor of state sovereignty.
E. Dennis v. United States
Dennis v. United States is a landmark 1951 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the convictions of Communist Party leaders under the Smith Act, significantly shaping First Amendment jurisprudence on speech advocating the overthrow of the government.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Kimbrough v. United States
Target entity description: Kimbrough v. United States is a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that federal judges may deviate from the Sentencing Guidelines, particularly the crack–powder cocaine disparity, based on policy disagreements with those guidelines.

A. Abrams v. United States
Abrams v. United States was a 1919 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld the conviction of antiwar activists under federal law and is best known for Justice Holmes’s famous dissent articulating the “marketplace of ideas” concept in free speech jurisprudence.
B. Reynolds v. United States
Reynolds v. United States is an 1879 U.S. Supreme Court case that established the distinction between protected religious belief and regulable religiously motivated conduct, holding that the Free Exercise Clause does not excuse individuals from compliance with otherwise valid criminal laws such as those banning polygamy.
C. Yates v. United States
Yates v. United States is a 1957 U.S. Supreme Court decision that significantly narrowed the application of the Smith Act by distinguishing between the advocacy of abstract doctrine and the advocacy of concrete action to overthrow the government.
D. Bond v. United States
Bond v. United States is a 2011 U.S. Supreme Court case that clarified an individual’s ability to raise Tenth Amendment challenges to federal statutes, reinforcing limits on federal power in favor of state sovereignty.
E. Dennis v. United States
Dennis v. United States is a landmark 1951 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the convictions of Communist Party leaders under the Smith Act, significantly shaping First Amendment jurisprudence on speech advocating the overthrow of the government.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (48)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	United States Supreme Court case ⓘ criminal sentencing case ⓘ
appliesTo	United States Sentencing Guidelines ⓘ
areaOfLaw	federal criminal law ⓘ sentencing law ⓘ
arguedDate	October 2, 2007 ⓘ
category	2007 in United States case law ⓘ United States Supreme Court cases of the Roberts Court ⓘ linked to: United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases on sentencing ⓘ
citation	552 U.S. 85 ⓘ
clarified	extent of district court discretion under advisory Sentencing Guidelines ⓘ
concurrenceBy	Antonin Scalia ⓘ Clarence Thomas ⓘ
country	United States ⓘ linked to: United States of America
court	Supreme Court of the United States ⓘ
decidedDate	December 10, 2007 ⓘ
decisionDate	2007 ⓘ
dissentBy	Anthony M. Kennedy ⓘ Antonin Scalia ⓘ Clarence Thomas ⓘ Samuel A. Alito, Jr. ⓘ linked to: Samuel A. Alito Jr.
docketNumber	06-6330 ⓘ
effect	increased judicial discretion to vary from crack cocaine guideline ranges ⓘ recognized that the Sentencing Commission’s crack–powder ratio was not based on empirical data in the same way as other Guidelines ⓘ
fullCaseName	Derrick Kimbrough v. United States ⓘ linked to: Kimbrough v. United States
holding	A sentencing judge may impose a sentence outside the Guidelines range because the judge disagrees with the crack–powder cocaine sentencing disparity embodied in the Guidelines. ⓘ Federal district courts may deviate from the United States Sentencing Guidelines based on policy disagreements with the Guidelines. ⓘ The crack–powder cocaine ratio in the Sentencing Guidelines is advisory, not mandatory. ⓘ
influenced	later reforms to federal crack cocaine sentencing policy ⓘ
joinedByInMajority	Anthony M. Kennedy ⓘ Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. ⓘ linked to: John G. Roberts Jr. David H. Souter ⓘ John Paul Stevens ⓘ Samuel A. Alito, Jr. ⓘ linked to: Samuel A. Alito Jr. Stephen G. Breyer ⓘ
jurisdiction	United States federal courts ⓘ linked to: U.S. federal courts
legalIssue	crack–powder cocaine sentencing disparity ⓘ federal sentencing discretion ⓘ interpretation of advisory Sentencing Guidelines after United States v. Booker ⓘ
majorityOpinionBy	Ruth Bader Ginsburg ⓘ
priorHistory	United States v. Kimbrough, 174 F. App’x 798 (4th Cir. 2006) ⓘ linked to: Kimbrough v. United States
recognized	district courts may consider the disparity between the Guidelines’ treatment of crack and powder cocaine offenses when imposing sentence ⓘ
relatedCase	Gall v. United States ⓘ United States v. Booker ⓘ
standardOfReview	reasonableness review for sentences outside the Guidelines range ⓘ
subsequentCitationBy	federal appellate courts reviewing crack cocaine sentences ⓘ
topic	crack cocaine sentencing ⓘ policy-based variances from Guidelines ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (4)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

United States v. Booker → subsequentInterpretationBy → Kimbrough v. United States ⓘ

Gall v. United States → relatedTo → Kimbrough v. United States ⓘ

Kimbrough v. United States → fullCaseName → Derrick Kimbrough v. United States ⓘ

linked to: Kimbrough v. United States

Kimbrough v. United States → priorHistory → United States v. Kimbrough, 174 F. App’x 798 (4th Cir. 2006) ⓘ