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Editorial:
Make
No
Mistake
1/14/05
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/370/makenomistake.shtml
David Borden, Executive
Director, [email protected]
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David
Borden
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It is a rare day when an
establishment institution such as the US Supreme Court does something radical.
Yet the Court has intervened in federal sentencing, and by extension probably
in many states' sentencing, in a dramatic fashion. The harsh sentencing
guidelines are now advisory, no longer mandatory. The rest of the
story is complex. Though even conservative justices on the Court
tend to oppose mandatory minimum sentencing, especially the harsh sentences
common in today's drug war, the ruling does not strike down the mandatory
minimum statutes themselves, which are distinct from the guidelines regime.
But it was a dramatic week
nonetheless. One law professor/blogger was playfully chided by a
reader for staying up too late -- 2:00am -- writing posts about the Booker
and Fan Fan rulings and their implications. The prof replied that
even after he got to bed his mind continued to spin with Booker thoughts.
It is one of those times when concerned parties in numerous quarters read,
write, and talk close to nonstop to ponder how the world has changed.
Make no mistake, this one is big.
At the same time, it's important
not to leap to conclusions. Unquestionably, it is good that the guidelines
are no longer mandatory -- no, good doesn't do justice to what has happened
(no pun intended), it's awesome. But the direct implications, and
the indirect political implications, are harder to gauge:
-
Advocates fear that Congress
will rush to enact a new federal sentencing statute that satisfies the
constitutional problems to which the Court objected.
-
Many drug offenders will still
be subject to mandatory minimum sentencing, which doesn't seem to have
been impacted by the ruling.
-
Judges will still have the power
to sentence harshly if that's how they are inclined. Defense attorneys
can appeal such sentences if they consider them to be "unreasonable," a
concept created by the second, unexpected ruling in the case brokered by
Justice Breyer, who played a key role in the Guidelines' original drafting.
Conversely, however, prosecutors will have the power to appeal sentences
they don't like as well.
-
Retroactivity appears to be
limited to those who have not yet exhausted their procedural avenues for
remedy -- which I don't understand, because it seems to me that unconstitutional
is unconstitutional regardless of when it happened -- but that's what they
did.
And there is much more.
Despite the foregoing cautions, though, I suggest that celebrations this
weekend are in order. The Booker and Fan Fan rulings will undoubtedly
help many who are now ensnared in a system that Congress long ago compelled
to act unjustly and stripped of its options for showing mercy. The
drug warriors who led that travesty, and the prosecutors who used and abused
the opportunities it provided, have been dealt a major blow and disappointment,
and that is "a good thing," as home living guru turned federal prisoner/justice
reformer Martha Stewart might put it.
So allow yourselves a little
joy, and get ready for the fight over this that is ensuing. And make
no mistake, it will start soon.
-- END --
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Issue #370
-- 1/14/05
Editorial:
Make
No
Mistake
|
Supreme
Court
Ends
Current
Federal
Sentencing
System
|
Course
Reversal:
Poland
Moving
From
"Zero
Tolerance"
Toward
Eased
Drug
Laws
|
This
Week's
Corrupt
Cops
Stories
|
Blogging:
Jackson,
Mississippi
Cocaine
Ring
Taken
Down,
Our
Side
Comments
on
Legalization
for
BBC
|
Newsbrief:
Clashes
and
Conflict
as
Afghan
"Jihad"
Against
Opium
Gets
Under
Way
|
Newsbrief:
South
Dakota
Legislators
Ready
to
Reduce
Administrative
Penalties
Against
Students
Caught
With
Drugs
|
Newsbrief:
US
Troops
Go
from
Iraq
Combat
to
Scottish
Drug
Treatment
|
Newsbrief:
Marines
Claim
Fallujah
Foes
Were
Hopped
Up
on
Dope
|
Newsbrief:
Violent
Consolidation
Underway
Among
Mexican
Drug
Trafficking
Groups
|
Newsbrief:
Black
Market
Marijuana
Finances
Maoist
Rebellion,
Indian
Officials
Say
|
Crackdown
on
Ecstasy
in
Malaysia
|
This
Week
in
History
|
The
Reformer's
Calendar
|
This issue -- main page
This issue -- single-file printer version
Drug War Chronicle -- main page
Chronicle archives
|
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