Argument Preview: Irizarry v. United States
Stanford student Erica Ross wrote the following preview of the second case to be argued on Tuesday, Irizarry v. US. Read her entire entry here, on SCOTUSwiki.
In Irizarry v. United States, No. 06-7517, the Court will consider whether a district court must provide the parties with notice that it is contemplating a departure from the applicable Sentencing Guidelines range on a ground not identified for departure in the presentence report or in a party’s prehearing submission. Petitioner Richard Irizarry argues that the district court violated Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32 when it failed to provide such notice. The United States agrees that Rule 32 requires a district court to provide notice, but argues that the failure to do so in this case was harmless error. A court-appointed amicus argues that Rule 32 does not require notice in these circumstances.
