NBC News: Supreme Court ruling on crack sentences 'a shocking loss,' drug reform advocates say
The Supreme Court's decision restricting the use of a landmark 2018 drug reform law landed like an anvil Monday morning at the Decarceration Collective, a Chicago law firm that seeks to free people serving life sentences for federal drug crimes.
The unanimous ruling said the law — which has been used to cut the sentences of thousands of federal drug offenders, including many accused of handling large amounts of crack cocaine — couldn't be used to reduce the sentences of people convicted of possessing small amounts of crack. The court's ruling came over the objections of the law's authors, who said they intended to help those low-level offenders, and the Biden administration, whose Justice Department declined to argue for the narrow interpretation of the law in court.
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"I think it's a nonsensical interpretation," said Holly Harris, who pushed for passage of the First Step Act as president and executive director of the Justice Action Network, which recruits lawmakers from the left and the right to support changes in the criminal justice system. "For those of us who were at the table litigating this bill, the one thing we said over and over is we want relief for low-level nonviolent offenders."