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Whether a non-retroactive change in sentencing law (such as the First Step Act's anti-stacking amendment to 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)) can constitute or contribute to 'extraordinary and compelling reasons' for compassionate release under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A).

Circuits disagree on whether district courts may consider non-retroactive changes in law as a factor supporting compassionate release. Some circuits prohibit any reliance on such changes, while others allow them as one factor among several. This split affects thousands of federal prisoners serving sentences that would be lower under current law.

Whether the rule of lenity trumps agency deference (Auer/Kisor deference) when interpreting ambiguous criminal sentencing provisions, such as the Sentencing Guidelines.

Circuits disagree on whether courts should defer to an agency's anti-defendant interpretation of an ambiguous criminal provision or instead apply the rule of lenity in favor of the defendant. This matters because it determines whether agencies can effectively expand criminal liability through interpretive guidance rather than formal lawmaking.