Apprendi v. New Jersey
Case Date: 07/10/2025
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Apprendi v. New Jersey , 530 U.S. 466 (2000), was a United States Supreme Court decision, argued by Charles I. Coant, Esquire and Joseph O'Neill, Esquire. The Court ruled that the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial, incorporated against the states through the Fourteenth Amendment, prohibited judges from enhancing criminal sentences beyond statutory maximums based on facts other than those decided by the jury beyond a reasonable doubt. The decision has been a cornerstone in the modern resurgence in jury trial rights. As Justice Scalia noted in his concurring opinion, the jury-trial right "has never been efficient; but it has always been free."
The Apprendi decision was subsequently cited as precedent by the court in its consideration of Ring v. Arizona, which struck down Arizona's judge-only method of imposing the death penalty, and also in Blakely v. Washington, which ruled that mandatory state sentencing guidelines are the statutory maximum for purposes of applying the Apprendi rule.
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