Tag Archives: EQUAL Act

Congress Is Back In Town… Little Has Changed – Update for September 12, 2023

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We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

THEY’RE B-A-A-A-CK

Congress returned last week after its long August recess, ready to dig in and work on anything other than criminal justice reform.

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Last week, the right-of-center Americans For Tax Reform wrote all members of Congress urging passage of the EQUAL Act (S.524, H.R. 1062). Anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist argued that the crack/powder sentencing “unjustified disparity has resulted in the imprisonment of people who pose no greater threat than their counterparts convicted of cocaine offenses for far greater periods.”

Norquist argued that “it is a core, taxpayer-funded, government role to protect citizens from crime, and manage the criminal justice system. Taxpayers, and all Americans who cherish individual liberty, should take an interest that the criminal justice system is efficient and effective at protecting public safety, upholding the rule of law and property rights, while respecting the constitutional rights of citizens. Where there are failures, conservatives should work to fix the issue, just as we do in other areas of government.”

The Illinois Times last week reported that Sen Richard Durbin (D-IL), chair of the Judiciary Committee, said the EQUAL Act has failed to come up for a Committee vote “because of the opposition of a Republican member of the committee, whom he declined to identify.”

“One Republican wouldn’t go for 1-to-1, and we deal with consensus on the committee,” Durbin said. “I have him down lower – substantially lower than 18-to-1 – and I’m trying to get the other side that wants it to be 1-to-1 to accept a different figure. But that’s where we’ve been stuck for over a year. I’m going to do my best to get this moving.”

The unidentified Republican is undoubtedly Sen Charles Grassley (R-IA), ranking Republican on the Committee and co-sponsor with Durbin of a number of reform measures, most notably the First Step Act. Last December, Grassley’s proposal of 2.5-1 and nonretroactivity except with Dept of Justice consent in the so-called SMART Cocaine Sentencing Act (S.4116) killed EQUAL’s passage in the last Congress. Now, 9 months later, nothing seems to have changed.

Meanwhile, in the wake of last week’s recommendation by the Dept of Health and Human Services that marijuana be rescheduled from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug, the White House last week asserted that President Biden has “always supported the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes,” she said. “He’s been very clear about that, where appropriate, consistent with medical and scientific evidence.

potscooby180713Marijuana Moment noted that “it’s not accurate to say that Biden has “always” backed cannabis reform. As a senator, he championed several pieces of legislation that ramped up the war on drugs.” Nevertheless, “if DEA goes along with HHS’s Schedule III recommendation, that would represent a major shift in federal marijuana policy, with an acknowledgment that cannabis is not a drug of high abuse potential and no medical utility.”

On the other hand, The Hill reported that advocates and policy experts say rescheduling marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act does not address the plethora of racial justice issues caused by current law.

“Rescheduling doesn’t address … the harm to marginalized communities,” said Natacha Andrews, executive director for the National Association of Black Cannabis Lawyers. “It doesn’t address the over-policing, it doesn’t address the immigration issues, it doesn’t address the access to federal services, and it’s not in alignment with what 38 states have done to regulate and legalize.”

“My initial reaction is that this is less than what the Biden administration promised specifically,” Cat Packer, director of drug markets and legal regulation at the Drug Policy Alliance, told The Hill.

MSNBC reported, “To be sure, moving marijuana to Schedule III wouldn’t dismantle the drug war or solve the host of problems needlessly caused by prohibition. Descheduling, or removing the plant from the government’s list of controlled substances, would make more sense and better align with Biden’s stated criminal justice views. Still, rescheduling would be historic, if only due to the historic stupidity that has kept cannabis on Schedule I to date.”

Americans for Tax Reform, Support for the EQUAL Act (September 8, 2023)

Illinois Times, Unjust Sentencing (September 7, 2023)

Marijuana Moment, Biden Has ‘Always Supported The Legalization Of Marijuana For Medical Purposes,’ White House Says Amid Rescheduling Recommendation (September 4, 2023)

The Hill, Marijuana rescheduling falls short of expectations on Biden (September 8, 2023)

MSNBC, What the federal ‘rescheduling’ of cannabis would (and wouldn’t) mean (September 4, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root

‘Spirit Is Willing But…’ In Federal Drug Reform – Update for August 8, 2023

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NOTHING HAPPENING HERE…

vacation190905If Congress does not approve a new appropriations bill by September 30, the government could shut down. But as anyone who works in or with the federal government knows, the government pretty much shuts down every year for the month of August as legislators, agency heads and government employees leave town for vacations.

This leaves a number of issues important to federal defendants hanging. Two of those are cocaine and marijuana reform.

Before leaving town for the beach, Dept of Justice officials filed comments with the U.S. Sentencing Commission urging the Commission to adopt a number of priorities for the coming year. On the equivalency of powder and crack cocaine, the DOJ urged the Commission (1) to advocate that Congress for passage of the EQUAL Act (S.524 and H.R.1062) to remedy the current disparity between treatment of powder cocaine and cocaine base; and (2) to remind sentencing courts of “their obligation, when considering [18 USC § 3553(a)] sentencing factors, to consider the pharmacological similarities between powder and crack cocaine and whether it is appropriate to impose a variance consistent with the relevant base offense level for powder cocaine.”

You may recall that last October, President Biden directed that the Dept of Health and Human Services lead an effort to reclassify marijuana as something less than a Schedule I drug. That effort includes review by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

marijuana160818Pressed by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) during a July 27 oversight hearing on DEA, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram told the subcommittee that the agency has not been provided with a definite timeline to review marijuana’s classification. When Gaetz asked Milgram if she would request the timeline from the HHS, she said, “I will ask.”

The rescheduling of marijuana probably won’t be done until late next year. A rescheduling could possibly lead to changes in 21 USC § 841 as to punishment – if not conviction ¬– for marijuana.

DOJ, Letter to Sentencing Commission (July 31, 2023)

Forbes, DEA Head Pledges To Seek Federal Marijuana Rescheduling Review Timeline From HHS (July 31, 2023)

House Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance, Hearing (July 27, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root

Senate Leader Pushed on EQUAL Act – Update for August 3, 2023

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ADVOCATES DEMAND SCHUMER MOVE ON EQUAL ACT

The New York Daily News last week reported that a coalition of 35 reform groups have delivered a letter to Sen Charles Schumer (D-NY), the Senate majority leader, demanding passage of the EQUAL Act (S.524), the latest iteration of a bill that would equalize the punishments for powder and crack cocaine.

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Last summer, Schumer made the legislation a priority, but the bill didn’t get a Senate floor vote before the 117th Congress ended. Now, advocates are requesting that Schumer push for the bill once more. The letter demanded action in the summer session, but that session ended last week without action.

“While we appreciate Sen. Schumer’s support for the EQUAL Act, the reality is that Democrats have now controlled the Senate Judiciary [Committee] for three years without advancing any meaningful criminal justice reform,” said Janos Marton, vice president of political strategy for Dream.org. “Now is the time to do that.”

Inimai Chettiar, federal director of Justice Action Network, another signer on the letter, agreed: “This bill needs to move ASAP. Given that Sen. Schumer is the majority leader, he also has the power to put pressure on the Judiciary Committee to have them move this bill,” she said. “It’s been three years that we’ve been waiting.”

crack-coke200804Congress narrowed the disparity between crack and powder with the Fair Sentencing Act in 2010. Prior to the passage of that measure, one gram of crack resulted in the same sentence as 100 grams of powder cocaine. Even after the Fair Sentencing Act became law, an 18:1 ratio remained, meaning that 28 grams of crack resulted in the same punishment as a half kilo of powder. EQUAL would make punishments for crack the same as those for powder cocaine.

New York Daily News, Advocates demand Schumer do more to end crack cocaine sentencing disparity (July 25, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root

Sisyphus and Marijuana Reform – Update for July 13, 2023

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MEANWHILE, CONGRESS IS HARD AT WORK…

Just kidding.

sisyphus230713Sisyphus – who pushed the rock up the hill, for you mythology-challenged readers – was a model of efficiency compared to Congress. That’s generally so, but hardly better illustrated than in the world of marijuana reform.

Marijuana – now known by its preferred pronoun “cannabis” – has nearly reached the top of legislative mountain before. States have OK’d it for medical use and in some places, for recreational toking. I drove through Michigan last weekend, where you can no longer see the forests for the recreational “cannabis” dispensary billboards. But federal recognition of the states’ fait accompli? Not even close.

Forbes last week ran a piece explaining why federal legalization of marijuana (which I figured was a done deal when the 2021 Congress convened) is at least a decade away.

“President Joe Biden isn’t pro-cannabis, nor are any of the other major declared candidates, including former President Donald Trump,” Forbes stated. “Trump said that drug dealers should be executed. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who opposed cannabis legalization during his first bid for president in 2016 and referred to tax revenue from pot sales as “blood money,” said during a town hall on CNN that he would end parts of America’s drug war, but still opposes legalization. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is running as a Democrat and got arrested for marijuana and heroin decades ago, said he would decriminalize weed, but he stopped of supporting legalization.”

Forbes recounted that Morgan Paxhia, co-founder of San Francisco-based cannabis investment firm Poseidon, “was lobbying in Washington, D.C. late this spring when he finally accepted that America’s prohibition on pot is not going to end soon. Any hopes that the Biden Administration will remove marijuana from the list of controlled substances is ‘dead in the water,’ according to the politicians and staffers Paxhia met with. “My feeling of federal legalization is that it could be 10 years or more,” Forbes quoted Paxhia as saying.

potbillboard230713However, writing in Marijuana Moment last week, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) noted that the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports is recommending the removal of marijuana from its list of prohibited substances and that the House has passed legislation to enable state-legal cannabis companies to have banking services seven times. Despite the fact this happened last year, when the Dems controlled the House, Blumenauer hopefully writes, “Perhaps this is the final stretch towards ending the failed war on drugs. If the NCAA is issuing a call for a reasonable, rational drug policy, can Congress be far behind?”

Meanwhile, Robert Wood – writing in The Hill last week – argued that justice demanded that the stalled EQUAL Act be passed. Wood, who won a sentence reduction under First Step Act’s Section 404, which made the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act retroactive, argued that the EQUAL Act’s opponents “often fail to comprehend the human aspect of these unjust sentences. We are talking about individuals who have served 10, 15 or even 20 years in prison, with some serving life sentences. These men and women are not statistics; they are our fellow citizens, who have families and communities to return to… The goal of passing the EQUAL Act and ensuring its retroactivity is to rectify the wrongs committed under an unjust system. By providing these individuals with an opportunity for redemption, we embrace the core principles of fairness, equality and justice. As a nation that prides itself on these values, we must not turn a blind eye to the suffering caused by outdated policies.”

No hearings have been held on EQUAL this year, and I suspect that none will happen. Jacob Sullum noted in Reason last week that “Donald Trump can’t seem to decide whether he wants to execute drug dealers or free them from prison. The former president’s debate with himself reflects a broader clash between Republicans who think tougher criminal penalties are always better and Republicans who understand that justice requires proportionality.”

warondrugs211028Trump, who brutal drug warriors like Rodrigo Duterte, the former president of the Philippines, said last fall that “We’re going to be asking everyone who sells drugs, gets caught selling drugs, to receive the death penalty for their heinous acts.” When he repeated that two weeks ago during a Fox News interview, anchor Bret Baier pointed out that a policy of executing “everyone who sells drugs” was inconsistent with Trump’s record as president, which included passage of First Step and clemency aimed at reducing drug penalties that Trump described as “very unfair.” Baier pointed out that Alice Marie Johnson, a first-time, nonviolent drug offender whom Trump granted a commutation and later a full pardon for her participation in a cocaine conspiracy, would have been “killed under your plan,” Baier noted, “as a drug dealer.”

As long as the presidential campaign, which has over 15 months to go, is focused on crime, expect nothing from Congress.

Forbes, Why National Cannabis Legalization Is Still A Decade Away (June 30, 2023)

Marijuana Moment, If NCAA Can End Marijuana Ban, So Can The Federal Government, Congressman Says (July 3, 2023)

The Hill, Justice for all: It’s time to end the discrimination between crack and cocaine sentencing (July 4, 2023)

Reason, Trump Can’t Decide Whether To Free Drug Dealers or Kill Them: The Former President’s Bloody Rhetoric Undermines His Defense of Sentencing Reform (June 28, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root

Drug Crime Reform Lurches Forwards a Very Little Bit – Update for March 7, 2023

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BIDEN SUPPORTS EQUAL ACT, NEW POT POLICY NEARS

In a Presidential “Fact Sheet” issued last week, President Joe Biden  again called on Congress “to end once and for all the racially discriminatory crack-powder cocaine sentencing disparity and make the change fully retroactive. This step would provide immediate sentencing relief to the 10,000 individuals, more than 90% of whom are Black, currently serving time in federal prison pursuant to the crack/powder disparity. The Administration has urged the swift passage of the EQUAL Act.”

The EQUAL Act has been introduced in the House of Representatives as H.R. 1062 and in the Senate as S. 524.

marijuana221111Attorney General Merrick Garland told the Senate Judiciary Committee last Wednesday that the Dept of Justice is “still working on a marijuana policy” and that federal health officials are currently taking the lead on a broader review of marijuana’s federal scheduling status that President Joe Biden called for last October 6th.

The policy will “be very close to what was done in the Cole Memorandum,” Garland said, referring to an Obama-era policy that directed federal prosecutors generally to not interfere with state pot laws but which was later rescinded by the Trump administration. “We’re not quite done” with the marijuana policy review, Garland said, telling the Committee that finalizing a memo on crack cocaine prosecutions was a more pressing priority.

Garland also said that the process surrounding pardons that Biden granted to people who have committed cannabis possession offenses is “still working its way through the system to get the final certificates” to people so they can demonstrate they were given the presidential relief.

Two days later, DOJ announced that people eligible for the Biden pardon can now begin applying for a “certificate of proof” showing that they have been forgiven for the offense. The online application is run through the DOJ Office of the Pardon Attorney web page.

White House, Fact Sheet: The Biden-⁠Harris Administration Advances Equity and Opportunity for Black Americans and Communities Across the Country (February 27, 2023)

Marijuana Moment, Biden’s Attorney General Says DOJ Is ‘Still Working On’ Federal Marijuana Policy Approach (March 1, 2023)

CNN, Biden administration officially opens pardon request application for federal offenses of simple marijuana possession (March 3, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root

The Legislative Push for Drug Reform Resumes – Update for March 2, 2023

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MEANWHILE ON CAPITOL HILL…

equal220812I reported January 30th that the EQUAL Act was about to be reintroduced. A week ago, Sens Cory Booker (D-NJ), Thom Tillis (R-NC) and others, along with Reps Kelly Armstrong (R-ND), Don Bacon (R-NE) and Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), the House Democratic Leader, got it done, simultaneously introducing “bipartisan” EQUAL Act bills in the House (H.R. 1062) and the Senate (S.524).

Meanwhile, some Republican lawmakers are excited about a survey released last week by the Coalition for Cannabis Policy, Education, and Regulation (CPEAR). The survey found that 68% of respondents back ending federal marijuana prohibition. The result was 10% higher than a year ago.

“The polling is clear: federal cannabis prohibition is in direct contradiction to the overwhelming will of the American electorate, including a notable majority of conservative voters,” Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH), co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, said. “I hope more of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will heed the call of their constituents and join me in working towards a safe and effectively regulated legal marketplace.”

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) was not as sanguine. Mace, who filed a comprehensive marijuana legalization bill in the last Congress, said that “it appears the only place where cannabis reform is unpopular is in Washington, DC.”

The lack of serious interest in pot reform shows at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, too. Last week, NORML complained that despite President Biden’s announcement last October of a blanket pardon for people convicted of simple federal marijuana possession, “none of the 6,557 Americans identified by the U.S. Sentencing Commission as being eligible for presidential pardons have received them.”

clemency170206Reason said last week that ”Biden, after reaping political benefits by announcing the pardons a month before the midterm elections, has not actually issued any. He got good press and may have helped Democrats in the midterms by motivating voters who care about drug policy reform. But his promise remains just that until he does what he said he would do.”

Candidate Biden promised a wholesale reform of the pardon system with a special White House commission deciding applications. In the first month of his presidency, hopes ran high that he would be taking decisive action to clean up a process that had left over 14,000 clemency applications languishing at the DOJ. But now, with over 18,000 applications awaiting action, we are no closer to a plan for dealing with them.

EQUAL Act (H.R. 1062)

EQUAL Act (S. 524)

Ripon Advance, Armstrong unveils bill to end federal sentencing disparity for cocaine offenses (February 22, 2023 )

Marijuana Moment, GOP Congressional Lawmakers Tout Poll Showing Republican Voters Back Federal Marijuana Legalization (February 23, 2023)

Reason, Four Months After Biden Promised Marijuana Pardons, He Has Not Issued Any (February 16, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root

EQUAL’s Back But The Odds of Passage Aren’t Any Better – Update for February 22, 2023

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SLEEPY IN WASHINGTON


zero230223I am already getting questions from people wondering what new laws have been passed on meth, cocaine, guns, porn, you name it.

The answer never changes. None. Nada. Zilch.

The sad fact is that we have a new Congress, now only 50 days old. As Politico put it, “the new Congress has accomplished almost nothing so far… The House and Senate have not passed any new laws, the speaker is jostling with Biden over the debt ceiling and the new Congress’ most significant collaboration was agreeing to meet for the State of the Union. The Democratic Senate has held just eight roll-call votes on nominees and approved only one piece of new legislation alongside a host of non-binding resolutions. The House GOP, meanwhile, has rammed through dozens of bills — few, if any, of which have a chance of coming to the Senate floor.”

It’s a preview of the long slog that Washington expects during divided government. And sadly, it’s a long slog that will probably yield as much criminal justice as the last two years, which is to say “none.”

crackpowder160606I reported January 30th that the EQUAL Act was about to be reintroduced. Last Friday, Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Richard Durbin (D-IL), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, along with Representatives Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) and Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), the House Democratic Leader, announced the reintroduction of the “bipartisan” EQUAL Act (H.R. 1062 in the House, S.524 in the Senate) which would eliminate the federal crack and powder cocaine sentencing disparity and apply it retroactively to those already convicted or sentenced.

Ohio State University law professor Doug Berman wrote in his Sentencing Law and Policy blog last Saturday that “during the last Congress, I became way too optimistic about the prospect of passage of the EQUAL Act to entirely eliminate the federal crack and powder cocaine sentencing disparity. But after the US House voted overwhelmingly, 361-66, to pass the EQUAL Act and after the Senate version secured 11 GOP sponsors, I really thought nearly four decades of a misguided sentencing structure could be coming to an end. But… opposition from some key Republican Senators prevented the bill from getting to the desk of President Biden. I am now inclined to be much less optimistic about the EQUAL Act’s chance in the new Congress.”

Politico, Conservatives gloat as Congress starts off with little to show (February 13, 2023)

Sentencing Law and Policy, Renewed bipartisan effort to end the federal crack/powder sentencing disparity via the EQUAL Act (February 18, 2023)

Press Release, Booker, Durbin, Armstrong, Jeffries Announce Re-Introduction of Bipartisan Legislation to Eliminate Federal Crack and Powder Cocaine Sentencing Disparity (February 17, 2023)

Ripon Advance, Armstrong unveils bill to end federal sentencing disparity for cocaine offenses (February 22, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root

Where Underperformance is ‘Success’ – Update for February 16, 2023

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BIDEN TOUTS ‘SUCCESSES’ BEFORE SOTU, BUT FAILS TO DELIVER IN SPEECH

success230216The White House touted its policies and accomplishments — including marijuana pardons, drug sentencing reform, harm reduction and enhanced enforcement for fentanyl — ahead of last week’s State of the Union speech, but then proceeded to say nothing in the speech itself about drug policy reform.

The White House promised in a factsheet that the president would “highlight progress” on criminal justice issues during the speech and included a section that directly discussed tackling the “failed approach to marijuana and crack cocaine.” But nothing was said during SOTU about it.

And little wonder. The Biden Administration’s record is one of ‘overpromise, underperform.’ Case in point? For all of the White House hand-wringing about the adverse effect on minorities of the statutory sentencing penalty for crack cocaine being much greater than powder cocaine, the EQUAL Act collapsed due to Senate wrangling at the end of the last Congress.

ineffectiveleaders230216Marijuana reform? Is that what one calls grant pardons to people who aren’t in prison and have convictions for simple pot possession? Or is that one calls the MORE Act, which breezed past the House last session but died in the Senate because Biden couldn’t corral members of his own party who wanted to tinker with it?

President Biden – an old hand at Senate procedure himself – could not get two bills passed the Senate when both had overwhelming support.

successline230216Is this what success looks like?

The Fact Sheet says “the Safer America Plan calls on Congress to end once and for all the racially discriminatory sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine offenses — as President Biden first advocated in 2007 — and make that change fully retroactive. This step would provide immediate sentencing relief to the 10,000 individuals, more than 90 percent of whom are Black, currently serving time in federal prison pursuant to the crack/powder disparity. As an initial step, the Attorney General has issued guidance to federal prosecutors on steps they should take to promote the equivalent treatment of crack and powder cocaine offenses, but Congress still needs to act….”

And Biden needs to lead, not just posture.

leaders230216Biden’s pardon proclamation, which affected several thousand people who’ve committed federal cannabis possession offenses but not a single one in prison, “lifts barriers to housing, employment, and educational opportunities,” the Fact Sheet boasted.

A White House official said Thursday that Biden promises that “every jail and prison across the nation can provide treatment for substance use disorder.” By this summer, he said, the BOP will ensure that each of its 122 facilities are equipped and trained to provide in-house medication-assisted treatment.”

White House, FACT SHEET: The Biden-⁠Harris Administration’s Work to Make Our Communities Safer and Advance Effective, Accountable Policing (February 6, 2023)

Marijuana Moment, White House Touts Biden’s Marijuana Pardons In Preview of State of The Union Speech (February 7, 2023)

WHIO-TV, Biden wants to make opioid antidote as widely available as ventilators, drug official says (February 9, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root

EQUAL Act Rises, Phoenix-Like, In New Congress – Update for January 30, 2023

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EQUAL ACT COMING AROUND AGAIN

People are still asking about the status of various criminal justice bills that have been pending in Congress for the past few years. So let’s review some high school government class notes…

Every Congress lasts two years, beginning in the January of an odd year and ending at the end of the next year (and even year). The last Congress was the 117th Congress since the adoption of the U.S. Constitution. The one that started on January 3, 2023, is the 118th Congress.

phoenix230130Any bill that was pending but not passed when the last Congress ended died on January 2. This included the EQUAL Act, a bill that would have equalized the penalties for crack and powder cocaine. EQUAL passed the House last session, but while declaring its support for the measure, Senate leadership (and I’m talking about Sen. Charles Schumer [D-NY], Senate majority leader) inexplicably failed to bring EQUAL to a vote.

So the EQUAL Act – like marijuana reform, 18 USC 924(c) retroactivity, expungement, and every other criminal justice issue before Congress – now must start over. No new EQUAL Act has yet been introduced in either the House or Senate, but last week, talk of crack-powder equality rose like a phoenix from the ashes of the 117th Congress. FAMM and 20 other criminal justice reform groups wrote to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard Durbin (D-IL) and the new Ranking Member of the Committee, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), urging them to have the Committee schedule a markup for the measure as soon as it is introduced (whenever that is).

The letter said

Last Congress, the EQUAL Act was one of only a few pieces of legislation to enjoy clear bipartisan support. The House of Representatives passed the bill in September 2021 with an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 361-66. The Senate version of the bill enjoyed the support of more than 60 senators, but never received a vote in committee or on the floor. To ensure this strong bipartisan bill reaches President Biden’s desk, we urge you and your committee to begin work on this urgent piece of legislation immediately.

Signers of the letter included criminal justice rights groups from the left and right, as well as a gallimaufry of organizations including Americans for Tax Reform, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, the Major Cities Chiefs Association, and the NBA’s National Basketball Social Justice Coalition.

canoe230130

In his Sentencing Law and Policy blog, Ohio State University law professor Douglas Berman wrote last week that “notably, but not surprisingly, this letter to Congress makes no mention of the fact that… US Attorney General Garland released last month new federal charging guidelines that includ[ed] instructions to federal prosecutors to treat crack like powder cocaine at sentencing. Though these new charging guidelines do not have the legal force of statutory reform, they might readily lead members of Congress to see less urgency in advancing reform or even to be more resistan[t] to reform as we saw late last year. Fingers crossed that EQUAL can gather momentum again and actually finally eliminate the pernicious and unjustified crack/powder disparity once and for all.”

FAMM, Coalition of law enforcement, justice reform, and civil rights organizations urge Congress to pass the EQUAL Act (January 26, 2023)

FAMM, Letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman (January 26, 2023)

Sentencing Law and Policy, New year and new Congress brings a new effort to advance new EQUAL Act (January 26, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root

No Clemency from Santa Biden This Year – Update for December 29, 2022

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CHRISTMAS CLEMENCIES ARE A BUST

Congress is not the only underperforming branch of government this year. So far this month, President Biden granted traditional year-end clemencies to the following:

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clemency170206That’s right… to no one.

Last week, sentencing law experts (and law professors) Mark Osler and Rachel Barkow took Biden to task for using the tool of clemency for symbolism rather than substance, while ignoring clemency’s official process.” Saying that he has acted like former President Trump, Osler and Barkow – writing in the New York Daily News – complained that while 17,000 petitions (it’s closer to 18,000) have piled up — a “historic backlog — and many petitioners have been waiting for answers for five years or more.”

Osler and Barkow wrote that “like Trump, Biden has simply ignored those thousands of people waiting for consideration of their heartfelt pleas for clemency; in fact, he has failed to deny a single petition by presidential action even as the pile has grown into a tower. While many clemency petitions are worthy, many others are obviously not, and it shouldn’t be hard to say “no” to the weakest petitions. Like Trump before him, Biden seems either frozen in inaction or just doesn’t care.”

Biden’s commutation so far of 82 people for nonviolent offenses (and the vague pardons to unnamed marijuana possessors) “are more about signaling and politics than helping real people,” Barkow and Osler said.

clemency220418For all of the Biden Administration’s hand-wringing over retroactively remedying the crack-powder sentencing disparity that was embraced by the failed EQUAL Act (S.79), MSNBC reported last week, “Biden, who supported the proposed legislation, could remedy these past injustices with clemency, but he hasn’t done so, despite issuing pardons ahead of the midterm elections for cannabis possession.”

NY Daily News, Biden’s cowardice on clemency (December 20, 2022)

MSNBC, Racist war on drugs is the real winner of Congress’s massive spending bill (December 23, 2022)

– Thomas L. Root

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