Pubdate: Mon, 05 Jan 2004
Source: Shelby Star, The (NC)
Copyright: 2004sThe Shelby Star
Contact:  http://www.shelbystar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1722
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/ashcroft.htm (Ashcroft, John)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/william+rehnquist 

SENTENCING RESTRICTION CHALLENGED

In unusually strong language, Chief Justice William Rehnquist has
asked Congress to repeal a law it passed last year that restricts
judges' sentencing discretion.

And he was particularly critical of efforts by Attorney General John
Ashcroft and House Republicans to identify and monitor judges who
depart from federal sentencing guidelines, a ham-handed way of trying
to browbeat judges into imposing stricter sentences.

In his year-end report on the judiciary, Rehnquist said the monitoring
"could appear to be an unwarranted and ill-considered effort to
intimidate individual judges in the performance of their duties." He
need not have used the conditional.

The sentencing restrictions were added to an anti-crime bill last
April with little discussion or debate and, said Rehnquist, "without
any consideration of the views of the judiciary."

Because of the pay, the workload and the onerous confirmation process,
attracting qualified jurists to the federal bench may soon be a real
problem, made worse by Congress' weakening their authority and
conservative ideologues' peering over their shoulders. The law, by
attempting to enforce rigid adherence to sentencing guidelines,
effectively puts more sentencing power in the hands of prosecutors and
it also strains the quality of official mercy.

Rehnquist is himself a conservative; certainly he's no one's idea of a
bleeding-heart liberal. And he's backed in his opposition to this law
by the Judicial Conference, the organization representing the federal
judiciary.

At no time did Congress or the Justice Department, which supports the
new law, ever prove a need for this legislation. The returning
Congress should heed the chief justice's words and the judiciary's
wishes and repeal the curbs on sentencing.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin