Federal criminal prosecution represents the most formidable institutional adversary a criminal defense attorney can face. The United States Department of Justice prosecutes through a network of 94 United States Attorney's offices, each staffed by career federal prosecutors who specialize in narrow areas of federal criminal law. In the Eastern District of Michigan, the United States Attorney's Office brings cases involving drug trafficking conspiracies, public corruption, financial fraud, firearms offenses, cyber crimes, and a host of other federal offenses. Unlike state prosecutors who carry enormous caseloads and typically resolve cases through negotiated pleas, federal prosecutors investigate cases exhaustively before seeking an indictment and file charges only when they are confident of conviction. The NACDL has documented that the federal conviction rate — at trial — exceeds 90%, a statistic that reflects both the rigor of federal prosecution and the comparative resource disadvantage faced by defense counsel.

The United States Sentencing Guidelines, promulgated by the United States Sentencing Commission pursuant to the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, create a structured sentencing framework that dominates federal penalty outcomes. Although the Supreme Court held in United States v Booker, 543 US 220 (2005), that the Guidelines are advisory rather than mandatory, district courts are required to calculate the applicable Guidelines range and to consider it as a starting point. The Guidelines calculate sentences based on a defendant's offense level — adjusted for factors such as drug quantity, victim impact, and acceptance of responsibility — and criminal history category. The resulting "Guidelines range" is expressed in months and drives the vast majority of federal sentences. Understanding the Guidelines, and identifying mitigating factors that can reduce the offense level or justify a downward departure or variance, is a core competency of federal defense practice.

Federal mandatory minimum sentences, codified throughout Title 18 and Title 21 of the United States Code, add a layer of sentencing rigidity that the Guidelines alone do not fully capture. For drug trafficking offenses, 21 USC § 841(b) imposes mandatory minimums of five or ten years based on drug type and quantity thresholds. The Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 USC § 924(e), imposes a fifteen-year mandatory minimum on defendants with three prior violent felony or serious drug offense convictions who possess a firearm. These mandatory minimums cannot be avoided through Guidelines calculations or judicial discretion — they can only be circumvented through the "safety valve" provision of 18 USC § 3553(f) (for qualifying drug offenders) or through cooperation with the government under USSG § 5K1.1 and 18 USC § 3553(e). Attorney Maze evaluates these options in every federal case where mandatory minimums are present.

NACDL's advocacy for reform of federal mandatory minimum sentencing has made important gains in recent years, most notably through the First Step Act of 2018, which reduced certain mandatory minimums, expanded the safety valve, and made the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010's crack cocaine reforms retroactive. These reforms have provided relief to clients serving lengthy federal sentences and have created new arguments for sentence reduction in pending cases. Attorney Maze incorporates First Step Act analysis into every relevant federal sentencing and post-conviction representation, ensuring that clients receive the benefit of every available sentencing reduction.