Can Agency Guidance Add Time to Your Prison Sentence?

Unwritten Law · Oct 29, 2026 · 26m

Can government officials effectively increase someone's prison sentence through guidance that never went through the same approval process as the law itself?

That's the issue at the heart of Beaird v. United States, a case recently argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Federal judges use sentencing guidelines to determine the appropriate punishment for criminal offenses. But under a legal doctrine known as Stinson deference, judges must also defer to the Sentencing Commission's commentary interpreting those guidelines—even though that commentary does not necessarily undergo public review or…