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SCOTUS rules 7-1 against defendant in crack retroactivity case

By Douglas A. Berman

Fittingly, the Supreme Court this morning has handed down its biggest federal sentencing ruling this Term with a decision against the defendant in Dillon just as the big annual US Sentencing Commission conference gets started. I will comment on the opinion later today, but I am certain that the US Sentencing Commisioners will be pleased with this outcome. The opinion can be accessed here. UPDATE: The opinion for the Court draws a clear (and I think justified) distinction between sentence modification proceedings and full sentencing. Once that is done, the Court does not find it too hard to explain why Booker's advisory remedy does not apply to modification proceedings.

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on June 17, 2010 (boomark / email).