Brief filed: 01/19/2012
Documents
Southern Union Co. v. United States
United States Supreme Court; Case No. 11-94
Argument(s)
In cases where the defendant is a corporation, the penalty of conviction is necessarily a fine, because a corporation cannot be incarcerated; unlike most criminal cases, the fine is not merely part of or an alternative to the penalty, it is the penalty. The court of appeals erred in ruling that Apprendi v. New Jersey, which held that any fact, other than a prior conviction, that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury and found beyond a reasonable doubt, does not apply to criminal fines.
Author(s)
Benjamin C. Block and Mark D. Herman, Covington & Burling LLP, Washington, D.C., et al. NACDL’s amicus brief in support of the petition for certiorari, filed 8/19/11, is here.
