Southern Union Company v. United States

Whether the Fifth and Sixth Amendment principles that this Court established in Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000), and its progeny, apply to the imposition of criminal fines.

NCLC urged the U.S. Supreme Court to hold that the Sixth Amendment guarantees criminal defendants the right to have any fact (other than prior conviction) that increases criminal fines beyond the statutory maximum to be submitted to a jury, and to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.  The case arises out of a $38.1 million RCRA penalty for the natural gas company's allegedly improper storing of mercury. In Apprendi v. New Jersey, the Court relied on Fifth and Sixth Amendment principles to hold that "any fact" other than the fact of a prior conviction "that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury, and proved beyond a reasonable doubt." The judicial "fact-finding" at issue in this case is that, after the jury had reached its verdict, the judge calculated at sentencing that the gas company had been violating RCRA for 762 days - a determination that the jury never made. According to NCLC's amicus brief, the First Circuit erroneously held that Apprendi does not apply to criminal fines. In its view, facts that increase the maximum fine need only be proven to a sentencing judge by a mere preponderance of the evidence. NCLC argued that the First Circuit's decision denies defendants their constitutional rights and creates perverse incentives for innocent defendants to plead guilty. NCLC also argued that ensuring a right to a jury trial for criminal fines will not impair prosecutors' ability to enforce the law against defendants that are actually guilty.

Previously, NCLC filed an amicus brief in support of certiorari.

The U.S. Supreme Court has not yet decided this case on the merits.

NCLC amicus brief in support of certiorari filed 8/19/11. Cert. granted 11/28/11. NCLC amicus brief on the merits filed 1/19/12.