* United States v. Ashqar (7th Cir.) (Oct. 2, 2009) (affirming sentence involving the “terrorism enhancement”)
Last week I noted that the Supreme Court granted cert in a case involving whether certain sentence-enhancement factors had to be tried to the jury rather than found by the judge, and I suggested this might be of interest to the list because of the importance of the “terrorism enhancement.” Right on cue, the 7th Circuit last Friday addressed an aspect of this question in United States v. Ashqar, ruling in the government’s favor (the issue here was the defendant’s claim that acquittal of the defendant on certain counts amounted to a “finding” in the defendant’s favor on certain facts, facts as to which the judge later found in the government’s favor at the sentencing phase). The full opinion is here (and the audio of oral argument is here).
By Robert M. Chesney
Robert M. Chesney is Charles I. Francis Professor in Law at UT-Austin School of Law. Chesney is a national security law specialist, with a particular interest in problems associated with terrorism. Professor Chesney recently served in the Justice Department in connection with the Detainee Policy Task Force created by Executive Order 13493. He is a member of the Advisory Committee of the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Law and National Security, a senior editor for the Journal of National Security Law & Policy, an associate member of the Intelligence Science Board, a non-resident senior fellow of the Brookings Institution, a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a member of the American Law Institute. Professor Chesney has published extensively on topics ranging from detention and prosecution in the counterterrorism context to the states secrets privilege. He served previously as chair of the Section on National Security Law of the Association of American Law Schools and as editor of the National Security Law Report (published by the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Law and National Security). His upcoming projects include two books under contract with Oxford University Press, one concerning the evolution of detention law and policy and the other examining the judicial role in national security affairs.
View all of Robert M. Chesney's posts.
