We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.
MITCH RAP
It seems pretty clear to everyone that the biggest hurdle to passage of the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2017 is not getting enough Senate votes. There are plenty of those supprting passage. Instead, the trick will be convincing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) to schedule the bill for a vote to begin with.
The hurdles were raised a few notches yesterday, when the White House said it sees no path forward for SRCA17’s reduction of mandatory minimum prison sentences, instead throwing its support behind measures aimed at reducing recidivism rates.
“The conclusion we reached was that, at this time, it’s appropriate for us to go forward with prison reform,” The Hill quoted a senior administration official as saying. The White House’s position, while hardly unexpected, represents a major setback for Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), who has been working to move SRCA17 – which is S.1917 – through Congress after it stalled last session.
Just last week, Salon.com reported, “There’s a real chance this bill could pass Congress with a strong bipartisan majority, but advocates for criminal justice reform fear that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, will never let it get that far. The issue causes real conflict within the Republican Party, especially in the age of Donald Trump. With the 2018 midterms just ahead, McConnell may not want to exacerbate intra-party tensions by allowing debate, still less a vote, on a bill that Attorney General Jeff Sessions has portrayed as soft on crime.
Tufts University in Boston has set up Criminal Justice Reform Phone Bank to federal officials regarding SRCA17. The goal of the calls is to pressure Senate leadership to bring the bill to a vote on the senate floor within a prompt time. Max Hornung, a senior and co-organizer of the event, said he worried that McConnell would delay the floor vote for an extremely long time in order to kill off momentum for the bill.
A regular reader suggested that we provide McConnell’s office address, so that inmates and their families can rap with Mitch, to urge him to bring SRCA17 to a vote. McConnell’s Washington office address is 317 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510. Your people can call his office at (202) 224-2541, send him a fax at (202) 224-2499, or go online to send him an email at
https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact
The Hill, White House deals blow to Grassley’s criminal justice bill (Feb. 27, 2018)
The Tufts Daily, Criminal Justice Reform Phone Bank targets federal, local bills (Feb. 23, 2018)
Salon, Biggest obstacles to prison reform? Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell (Feb. 21, 2018)
– Thomas L. Root
