Pubdate: Sat, 10 Jan 2004
Source: The Southeast Missourian (MO)
Copyright: 2004, Southeast Missourian
Contact: http://www.semissourian.com/opinion/speakout/submit/
Website: http://www.semissourian.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1322
Author: San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News

HARSH SENTENCING

 From upholding the death penalty to narrowing the Fourth Amendment 
protections against illegal searches, Supreme Court Chief Justice William 
Rehnquist has long championed the interests of law enforcement. So Congress 
should listen hard to his warning that it has gone too far in forcing 
judges to impose long and harsh sentences.

In a year-end report on the courts, Rehnquist condemned Congress for 
intruding on federal judges' power to use discretion in sentencing. Last 
year, Congress passed a law ordering the Justice Department to notify it of 
judges who hand down lighter sentences than sentencing guidelines demand. ...

Rehnquist doesn't label the law for what it is: the creation of a black 
list that Congress can use to punish judges it considers too liberal. But 
his comment was extraordinary nonetheless: The law, he wrote, would "appear 
to be an unwarranted and ill-considered effort to intimidate individual 
judges in the performance of their judicial duties." ...

Federal sentencing guidelines should be precisely that _ guidelines. Some 
cases with reduced sentences have been the result of plea bargains with the 
prosecutors' approval. There are also times when it's appropriate to reduce 
a sentence, based on the specific factors in a case. Only a judge, not a 
rigid matrix, can make that determination. ...
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