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Federal courts across the country disagree about whether the word, as it is used in a bipartisan 2018 criminal justice overhaul, indeed means “and” or whether it means “or”
Nearly 6,000 people convicted of drug trafficking in the 2021 budget year alone are in the pool of those who might be eligible for reduced sentences, according to data.
It's hard to imagine a less contentious or more innocent word than "and."But how to interpret that simple conjunction has prompted a complicated legal fight that lands in the Supreme Court on Oct. 2, the first day of its new term. What the justices decide could affect thousands of prison sentences each year.Federal courts across the country disagree about whether the word, as it is used in a bipartisan 2018 criminal justice overhaul, indeed means "and" or whether it means "or." Even an appellate panel that upheld a longer sentence called the structure of the ...
How important can the meaning of a single word be? In an upcoming Supreme Court case, the interpretation could affect the length of thousands of prison sentences handed down each year. The legal fight that the justices will hear on Oct. 2, the first day of their new term, depends on the meaning of “and” in a provision of a 2018 criminal justice overhaul. Federal courts across the country are in disagreement about whether the word means “and” or whether it means “or.” So the Supreme Court is stepping in to settle the dispute. It’s the kind of task that the justices love. And so mi...
How important can the meaning of a single word be