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"Justice Kennedy prods Obama to commute sentences"

By Douglas A. Berman

The title of this post is the headline of this notable partial report on one of today's oral arguments from by Josh Gerstein over at Politico.  Here is how it starts: During arguments at the Supreme Court today, Justice Anthony Kennedy lamented the paucity of commutations presidents have granted in recent years. Kennedy also seemed to prod President Barack Obama, who has yet to issue a single pardon or commutation, to wield the clemency power granted to chief executives. The case before the court, brought by convicted cocaine dealer Percy Dillon, was about how much discretion judges have when resentencing convicts who are eligible for sentence reductions due to efforts to remedy differences between crack and powdered cocaine. Kennedy apparently surprised Justice Department attorney Leondra Kruger by asking whether prisoners like Dillon, who was sentenced to more than 26 years, might get any relief from the White House...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on March 31, 2010 (boomark / email).