BRING IT TO THE FLOOR
LEADING LAW ENFORCEMENT, FAITH-BASED, AND CIVIL RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS URGE SCHUMER, McCONNELL TO BRING EQUAL ACT TO THE FLOOR FOR A VOTE, AS SUPPORT SURGES PAST FILIBUSTER-PROOF 60 VOTES
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PUBLIC SUPPORT EXCEEDS 70% APPROVAL FOR THE MEASURE
(Washington, DC) – Today, a coalition of more than 50 leading national law enforcement, faith-based, conservative, civil rights, and progressive organizations united around the EQUAL Act, urging Senate leadership to prioritize passage of the landmark legislation. In a letter to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D-IL), and Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD), an overwhelming group of diverse organizations is urging leaders to bring the bipartisan criminal justice reform bill to the floor for a vote “as soon as possible.” The EQUAL Act would finally and fully eliminate the federal sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine, an unjust vestige of the failed “War on Drugs,” which has devastated communities of color and poor neighborhoods across the country.
The EQUAL Act is driven by national and local law enforcement leaders who specifically point to the disparity as contributing to a lack of trust between police and communities they serve. They see passage of the EQUAL Act as crucial step toward improving relationships and enhancing public safety. In March, national polling of likely midterm voters revealed that support for the bill exceeds 70% across the ideological spectrum, with majorities of Republican and strong conservative voters voicing support.
Holly Harris, President and Executive Director of Justice Action Network, the country’s largest organization dedicated to bipartisan criminal justice reform made the following statement regarding the letter:
“These opportunities don’t come around very often in Washington. The EQUAL Act has support from law enforcement and civil rights groups, the backing of advocates from the right to the left, and the vast majority of American voters. It has more than enough support to pass the Senate. All it needs is a floor vote. It’s time for Senate leadership to come together, stand up for public safety and fundamental fairness under the law, and schedule a vote on the EQUAL Act.”
In September 2021, the EQUAL Act passed the House of Representatives with an overwhelming, bipartisan vote of 361 to 66. This bipartisan support extends to the Senate where cosponsors include Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Rob Portman (R-OH), Roy Blunt, (R-MO), Rand Paul (R-KY), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Susan Collins (R-ME), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Chris Coons (D-DE), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Richard Burr (R-NC), Joe Manchin (D-WV), and Ed Markey (D-MA).
Text of the letter below, including signatories:
April 28, 2022
Dear Leader Schumer, Leader McConnell, Whip Durbin, and Whip Thune:
On behalf of the undersigned organizations, we write in support of the Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of the Law Act or “EQUAL Act” (S. 79) and request that you bring this critical bipartisan legislation to the Senate floor as soon as possible, as you advance bipartisan criminal justice reform. As the bill now has 11 Republican sponsors, and we believe it will garner even more bipartisan support when put to a floor vote, we urge you to ensure a clear path to passage in the United States Senate.
The EQUAL Act would finally and fully eliminate the sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine offenses at the federal level and would allow courts to consider applications for resentencing of past cases. The current 18-to-1 disparity is not grounded in science; crack and powder cocaine are two forms of the same drug, and one is no more harmful than the other.1 Roughly 90 percent of individuals incarcerated for crack offenses at the federal level are Black,2 evidencing one of the worst racial injustices in federal law.
The impact of this disparity is pervasive and offers no benefit to public safety. For these reasons, the EQUAL Act enjoys broad bipartisan support in both the House and Senate, as well as unprecedented endorsements from national and local law enforcement, conservative groups, faith leaders, and civil rights organizations.
The history of this disparity is disturbing. The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 created a shocking 100-to-1 quantity disparity that dictated mandatory minimum sentences for crack cocaine offenses and powder cocaine offenses. As a result, five grams of crack cocaine carried the same mandatory minimum prison sentence as 500 grams of powder cocaine. This disparity, which failed to provide the public safety return the American people deserve, instead created obvious and harmful racial disparities. In fiscal year 2020 alone, 76.8 percent of people sentenced for crack cocaine offenses were Black.3
Congress has taken bipartisan action to incrementally address this injustice. In 2010, Congress passed the Fair Sentencing Act, which reduced the original 100-to-1 disparity to 18-to-1, and, in 2018, passed the First Step Act, which made this change retroactive. The Senate now has the opportunity to finish this vital work by passing the EQUAL Act and sending it to the President’s desk. On September 28, 2021, the House of Representatives passed the companion bill (H.R. 1693) in an overwhelming, bipartisan vote of 361 to 66. In the Senate, the bill is led by Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Rob Portman (R-OH), and has a total of 11 Democrats and 11 Republicans sponsoring the bill, well positioning the bill for passage in the Senate.
We cannot miss this moment to right this decades-long wrong. The EQUAL Act corrects misguided policy from 35 years ago and would continue the important bipartisan progress Congress has made to create a fairer and more effective federal justice system. We urge you to advance the EQUAL Act to the Senate floor as soon as possible, as you consider bipartisan criminal justice reforms.
Thank you for your consideration of this important legislation. Sincerely,
A Beautiful Heart Ministries
ALEC Action
American Civil Liberties Union
Americans for Prosperity
Americans for Tax Reform
Association of Prosecuting Attorneys
Black Public Defender Association
Buckeye Institute
Catholic Mobilizing Network
Catholic Prison Ministries Coalition
Center for American Progress
Citizen Action – NY
Color of Change
Digital Liberty
Dream Corps JUSTICE
Drug Policy Alliance
Due Process Institute
Empower Mississippi
Eternal Vigilance Action
Fair Trials
FAMM
Federal Public and Community Defenders
FreedomWorks
Georgia Center for Opportunity
Human Rights for Kids
Incarcerated Nation Network, Inc
Innocence Project
Jesuit Conference, Office of Justice and Ecology
Justice Action Network
Justice Roundtable
JustLeadershipUSA
Kentucky Sheriffs' Association
The Ladies of Hope Ministries, Inc.
Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Major Cities Chiefs Association
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
National Basketball Social Justice Coalition
National District Attorneys Association
National Legal Aid & Defender Association
National Urban League
New Yorkers United for Justice
Pegasus Institute
Pelican Institute
Prison Fellowship
R Street Institute
REFORM Alliance
Students for Sensible Drug Policy
Taxpayers Protection Alliance
The Sentencing Project
Tzedek Association
Vera Institute of Justice
Chief Joe Monroe, President, Kentucky Association of Chiefs of Police
Mark Holden, Chairman, Americans for Prosperity Foundation Board
Matthew Whitaker, Former Acting Attorney General, Department of Justice, United States
1 Dorothy K. Hatsukami, PhD and Marian W. Fischman, PhD, Crack Cocaine and Cocaine Hydrochloride: Are the Differences Myth or Reality?, JAMA, November1996 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/410806.
2 Sarah Lynch, U.S. Justice Department backs bill to end disparities in crack cocaine sentences, Reuters, June 22, 2021 https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-justice-department-backs-bill-end-disparities-crack-cocaine-sentences-2021-06-22/
3 U.S. Sentencing Commission, FY 2020 Sourcebook of Federal Sentencing Statistics (Race of Drug Trafficking Offenders, Table D-2), 2020 https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/research-and-publications/annual-reports- and-sourcebooks/2020/TableD2.pdf.