Supreme Court Curbs Compassionate Release, Undermining Sentencing Reforms
The U.S. Supreme Court, in decisions on Rutherford v. United States and Fernandez v. United States, restricted the application of compassionate release, a move critics contend undermines bipartisan federal sentencing reforms. The Court ruled that early prison release cannot be employed to re-evaluate cases based on questions of past conviction validity or excessive penalties, thereby establishing new limitations on future proceedings for early release.
