Cite as: 535 U. S. 625 (2002)
Opinion of the Court
General Olson, Assistant Attorney General Chertoff, Barbara McDowell, and Nina Goodman.
Timothy J. Sullivan argued the cause for respondents. With him on the brief were Arthur S. Cheslock, James E. McCollum, Jr., Carter G. Phillips, Jeffrey T. Green, Paul J. Zidlicky, and Stanley H. Needleman.*
Chief Justice Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.
In Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U. S. 466 (2000), we held that "[o]ther than the fact of a prior conviction, any fact that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury, and proved beyond a reasonable doubt." Id., at 490. In federal prosecutions, such facts must also be charged in the indictment. Id., at 476 (quoting Jones v. United States, 526 U. S. 227, 243, n. 6 (1999)). In this case, we address whether the omission from a federal indictment of a fact that enhances the statutory maximum sentence justifies a court of appeals' vacating the enhanced sentence, even though the defendant did not object in the trial court.
Respondent Stanley Hall, Jr., led a "vast drug organization" in Baltimore. 261 F. 3d 397, 401 (CA4 2001). The six other respondents helped run the operation. In October 1997, a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging respondents with conspiring to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine and 50 grams or more of cocaine base, in violation of 21 U. S. C. §§ 846 and 841(a)(1). A superseding indictment returned in March 1998, which extended the time period of the conspiracy and added five more defendants, charged a conspiracy to
*Clayton A. Sweeney, Jr., Mary Price, Peter Goldberger, David Porter, Joshua L. Dratel, and Lisa Bondareff Kemler filed a brief for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers et al. as amici curiae urging affirmance.
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