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© Greg Nash The Supreme Court on Tuesday weighed whether certain low-level crack cocaine offenders are eligible for reduced prison sentences under federal law. In oral argument heard by teleconference, the justices scrutinized a pair of criminal justice reform measures that Congress passed in part to address the disproportionately harsh penalties given to some Black drug offenders. Although many larger-scale crack offenders have qualified for sentence reductions, courts are split over whether Congress meant for the same leniency to apply to those convicted of possessing only small amounts of...

Susan Walsh / AP Originally published on May 5, 2021 3:52 am The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in a case involving sentencing disparities between people found guilty of possessing crack cocaine and those possessing powdered forms, and whether recent changes in federal law should apply retroactively to those given long prison terms for small amounts of crack. The case stems from changes to the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act, which put in place sentences for crack cocaine possession that were 100 times more severe than those for the powered form of the drug. The disparity was seen ...

U.S. Supreme Court skeptical of expanding crack cocaine reforms By Lawrence Hurley Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday seemed skeptical that low-level crack cocaine offenders can benefit under a 2018 federal law that reduced certain prison sentences in part to address racial disparities detrimental to Black defendants. The nine justices heard their final arguments of the court's nine-month term that began last October in a case involving a Florida man named Tarahrick Terry that tests the scope of the First Step Act signed into law by former President Donald Tr...

Supreme Court skeptical of low-level crack offender's case MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press FacebookTwitterEmail In this Nov. 6, 2020 photo, The Supreme Court is seen as sundown in Washington.J. Scott Applewhite/AP WASHINGTON (AP) — Crack cocaine trafficking kingpins convicted more than a decade ago can ask courts to reduce their prison terms under a 2018 federal law. The Supreme Court on Tuesday sounded skeptical that people convicted of older low-level crack crimes can do the same. The seemingly odd circumstance results from the wording of the First Step Act, a bipartisan 2018 law signed b...

Crack Cocaine Offender’s Leniency Bid Receives Cool Reception From Supreme Court Low-level crack cocaine defendants should benefit from a 2018 federal law that reduced some prison sentences, the Biden administration told largely unreceptive members of the Supreme Court on May 4. Although then-President Donald Trump signed into law the criminal justice reform measure known as the First Step Act, it was his administration’s view that possession of a small amount of crack cocaine wasn’t covered under the statute. The Biden administration reversed course and now argues that the defendant in...