SCOTUS takes up whether longer federal sentence permitted to promote rehabilitation

As detailed in this effective SCOTUSblog report, late yesterday the Supreme Court released an orders list which adds an interesting new federal sentencing case to the Court's docket.  Here are the details as well reported by Lyle Denniston:

The new criminal sentencing case the Court agreed to review is Tapia v. U.S. (10-5400), testing whether a federal judge may give a convicted individual a longer prison sentence to promote rehabilitation. That issue has divided the federal Circuit Courts, the petition argued. The Court already is reviewing an aspect of the rehabilitation question in federal sentencing — in the case of Pepper v. U.S. (09-6822).  The Justices, in fact, heard the Pepper case just last Monday.

The question before the Court in Pepper is whether a convicted individual who makes considerable strides in rehabilitating himself after his initial sentencing should have a chance to have a reduction in the sentence under the federal advisory Sentencing Guidelines, if the first sentence was overturned.  That is different from the situation with Alejandra Tapia in the newly granted case.  The issue there is, when the judge has decided that prison time is an appropriate sentence, whether the term can be lengthened to improve the individual’s chances of rehabilitation.  The petition argued that the Eighth and Ninth Circuits allow the use of that factor, in conflict with the Second, Third, Eleventh and D.C. Circuits, which do not.

The Justice Department, which supports Jason Pepper in the case already under review, told the Court that it agreed with Tapia’s view of what federal law allows, but nevertheless urged the Court not to hear the Tapia petition.  Acting Solicitor General Neal K. Katyal said that the Justice Department had sometimes supported the view that rehabilitation needs could be a factor in giving a longer sentence, but it no longer will take that position.  The Court, Katyal said, should allow the Circuit Courts to weigh the Department’s new views.

The Court, however, went ahead and agreed to hear the Tapia case this Term.  The woman in the case was convicted of bringing illegal aliens into the U.S. and of jumping bail after being charged with immigration crimes.  The judge said one factor in giving her a longer sentence was to make sure she remained confined long enough to take part in a drug rehab program.

After reading the Pepper transcript (which I commented upon here at SCOTUSblog), I had thought that the Court would resolve that case with a fairly limited opinion. But the Court's decision to take up Tapia now leads me to believe that the Justices may be eager to say a lot about the interplay of punishment theory and federal sentencing law in the post-Booker sentencing world.  Slowly but surely, this Term is becoming more interesting for sentencing fans than I had expected back in October.