Can Federal Judges Legally Sentence Convicted Criminals to Prison? 

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The argument presented in the complaint suggests that Judge Wolfson obstructed justice pursuant to 18 USC § 1512, et. seq., because she knew in advance that she had no authority to “prosecute, adjudge, or imprison” Moleski. Attorneys for Moleski and other social justice groups thoroughly researched the issue and found that the law granting District Court Judges the authorization to send any defendants in any criminal case to prison is invalid because the bill that passed the house in 1947 did not match the one that passed the Senate in 1948. If Public Law 80-772 is indeed not valid, then Moleski and presumably thousands of other prisoners, were sent to prison illegally.

This is a very serious issue because it would mean that no federal judge currently has authorization to sentence anyone accused of a federal crime to prison; it would call into question any criminal case in which a a person convicted of a federal crime was sentenced to incarceration.

President Truman “signed” Public Law 80-772 into law on June 25, 1948. Thus ostensibly rewrote Title 18 of the United States Code. However a different bill passed the House in 1947 than passed the Senate in 1948, rendering that law unconstitutional.