Mark W. Bennett

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Bennett grew up in the Twin Cities and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and urban studies from Gustavus Adolphus College in 1972 and a Juris Doctor from Drake University Law School in 1975.^[1][2]

Bennett began his own firm, Babich, Bennett, & Nickerson, now known as Babich Goldman, after law school. He was in private practice in Des Moines, Iowa from 1975 to 1991 and also served as general counsel to the Iowa Civil Liberties Union from 1975 to 1989, specializing in employment, civil rights, and constitutional litigation.^[1] Bennett argued before the Supreme Court of the United States once and wrote several successful petitions for certiorari.^[3][4] He served on numerous committees for the Iowa State Bar Association and the Iowa Trial Lawyers Association.^[1]

From 1991 to 1994, Bennett was a United States magistrate judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. On June 21, 1994, Bennett was nominated by President Bill Clinton to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa vacated by Donald E. O'Brien on recommendation from Tom Harkin.^[1] Bennett was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 9, 1994, and received his commission on August 26, 1994.^[5] As a district judge, Bennett presided over a federal death penalty trial in the 1993 Iowa murders case.^[2] He served as chief judge from 1999 to 2006, and assumed senior status on June 4, 2015.^[5] He retired from active service on March 2, 2019.

During his time as a judge, Bennett sat by designation on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and many district courts.^[3]

Bennett is an outspoken opponent of mandatory minimum sentencing.^[6] Several of his decisions opposing strict applications of sentencing laws have been reviewed by the Supreme Court of the United States.

In a 2003 case, Judge Bennett was reversed three times by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit for considering post-sentencing rehabilitation when sentencing a defendant who had subsequently recovered from drug addiction and gained stable employment. The Supreme Court then granted certiorari and reversed the Eighth Circuit in 2011, adopting Judge Bennett's position.^[7]

In 2007, a divided Eighth Circuit, sitting en banc, reversed Judge Bennett after he refused to apply the 100:1 powder/crack cocaine sentencing disparity.^[8] The Eighth Circuit was then reversed by the Supreme Court, which held that District Court judges could categorically reject that ratio.^[9]

In 2015, when an offender faced a mandatory thirty-year consecutive sentence, Judge Bennett wished to consider the mandatory minimum when sentencing on its predicate offense, but believed that he could not under Eighth Circuit precedent. The Eighth Circuit affirmed. The Supreme Court granted certiorari and unanimously reversed the Eighth Circuit, holding that Judge Bennett could follow his preferred approach.^[10]

Bennett is also notable for his practice of visiting defendants he sentenced in prison; by 2019, he had visited more than 400.^[11]