On May 24, the Supreme Court held that the machinegun provision of 18 U.S.C. Section 924(c)(1)(A)(i), which imposes a 30 year mandatory minimum sentence when that type of weapon is used during the commission of certain felony offenses, is an element of the offense that must be proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt rather than a sentencing factor to be proved by a preponderance of the evidence to a judge at sentencing. United States v. Martin O'Brien and Arthur Burgess, No. 08-1569 (2010). Although this was a unanimous decision, Justice Thomas (with Justice Stevens joining) reiterated his view that "...if a sentencing fact either 'raises the floor or raises the ceiling' of the range of punishments to which a defendant is exposed, it is, 'by definition [an] element" and that the Constitution prohibits the type of judicial fact-finding that occurred in O'Brien.
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