In the United States v. Vaughn, Brenda Vaughn, an African-American woman, pleads guilty to a charge of second-degree theft and is given a harsher sentence of imprisonment rather than probation because she is pregnant and believed to be using drugs.

Suspecting that Vaughn used cocaine, Judge Peter Wolf orders a drug test in connection with the sentencing. The judge is "horrified" to learn that she tests positive for cocaine, and explicitly says that he is sentencing Vaughn to: "a long enough term in jail to be sure she would not be released until her pregnancy was concluded."

There is no trial or conviction on the allegations of illegal drug use. In an opinion explaining his decision to impose a prison term, Judge Wolf comments that after the sentence was initially handed down: "many of [his] colleagues reported... having similarly sentenced or otherwise incarcerated pregnant drug abusers... [W]hile Ms. Vaughn's case may be the first to have achieved publicity, she is not the first to have been given similar treatment."