issued a majority opinion on Friday that will make it more difficult for criminal defendants to be eligible for relief under the First Step Act of 2018, a tough-on-crime decision that made for an unusual ideological split among the jurists.by Kagan marked a win for the Biden administration over its dispute over the “safety valve” relief in the 2018 law, which allows judges to ignore mandatory minimum sentences based on a drug offender’s criminal history.
The Justice Department argued “and” in the text should be read more like “or” and disqualify defendants who have more than a certain number of “criminal-history points,” which the Supreme Court majority saw as the favorable argument. Gorsuch’s dissent was lengthy and, at times, included terse language about the government’s position.
The dispute stemmed from a decision at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit that narrowed the First Step Act’s eligibility for safety valve relief, which is the exact opposite of what Congress intended the provision to do when it was first passed in 2018.briefs in the case in support of maintaining the status quo under the provision, arguing that the “rule of lenity” states courts should interpret vague or ambiguous criminal statutes in favor of defendants.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: TheOnion - 🏆 724. / 51 Read more »
Source: WBUR - 🏆 274. / 63 Read more »
Source: FOX10News - 🏆 581. / 51 Read more »
Source: MSTODAYnews - 🏆 275. / 63 Read more »
Source: screenrant - 🏆 7. / 94 Read more »
Source: dcexaminer - 🏆 6. / 94 Read more »