Taking Stock: A Review of Justice Stevens’s Last Book and an Appreciation of His Extraordinary Service on the Supreme Court

RODGER CITRON

Rodger D. Citron, the Associate Dean for Research and Scholarship and a Professor of Law at Touro College, Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center, comments on the late Justice John Paul Stevens’s last book, The Making of a Justice: Reflections on My First 94 Years. Citron laments that, in his view, the memoir is too long yet does not say enough, but he lauds the justice for his outstanding service on the Supreme Court.

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United Statesx v. Allgire

Docket: 19-2348

Opinion Date: December 26, 2019

Judge: Barrett

Areas of Law: Criminal Law

In 2006, Allgire was charged with multiple drug-related offenses. He pleaded guilty to two charges and served concurrent terms of 233 months and 120 months. Allgire then began serving concurrent supervised release terms but violated the conditions and was sentenced to seven months’ reimprisonment or, alternatively, up to six months in a halfway house, plus another 24 months’ supervised release. A month into his time at a halfway house, Allgire absconded and spent seven months on the run. The guidelines range for his violation was five to 11 months. The district court felt that Allgire had taken advantage of the court’s previous leniency, having been given a 53-month reduction for cooperating with the government in his initial sentence, and time in a halfway house rather than in prison. The court sentenced Allgire to 24 months’ imprisonment for violating the terms of supervised release on one count of his conviction and 17 months’ imprisonment on the other, to run concurrently. The parties agreed that any additional supervised release would be futile. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, rejecting arguments that the 24-month sentence was unreasonable and that the district court lacked authority to impose a concurrent 17-month sentence. The district court “ably explained its decision to vary upward from the guidelines range.”