USSC May Be Looking At More Proposed Amendments – Update for January 27, 2026

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

SENTENCING COMMISSION MAY ADD MORE PROPOSED GUIDELINE CHANGES THIS WEEK

Last month, the US Sentencing Commission announced a slate of Guideline changes it may want to pose to Congress on May 1. The announcement came almost a month earlier than its customary January rollout of proposed amendments.

Last week, the USSC announced a meeting this coming Friday (January 30, 2026) with an agenda that includes “possible vote to publish proposed guideline amendments.”

A second round of possible amendments is unprecedented in my memory (which stretches back nearly to the dawn of the Commission 37 years ago). Writing in Sentencing Law and Policy, Ohio State University law professor Douglas Berman expressed a theory for the surprise announcement: “I am not at all sure what to expect from the next set of proposed amendments from the Commission. But I am pretty sure that all the proposed guideline amendment activity this cycle is prompted, at least in part, by the real possibility that the USSC could lose its quorum at the end of 2026 and may not be able to make guideline amendments for perhaps some time after this amendment cycle. Interesting times.”

USSC, Public Notice of January 30, 2026, Meeting

Sentencing Law and Policy, US Sentencing Commission notices public meeting for publishing more proposed guideline amendments (January 22, 2026)

~ Thomas L. Root