New Compassionate Release Cases: Is the Door to Freedom Shrinking?

With the First Step Act of 2018 came the great hope of expanded grounds and use of "Compassionate Release."   Judges were offered the promise of wider discretion to give deserving clients a second look at sentencing. But, the Supreme Court just made compassionate release a whole lot harder to get, because in two back-to-back decisions — Fernandez and Rutherford — the Court slammed the door on two of the most frequently used grounds for eligibility. In this episode, Passon convenes two of the sharpest minds in federal sentencing — regular guest Mark Allenbaugh and returning star Prof. Doug Berman — for a deep-dive reaction.  Together, we break down what each case actually holds, where the majority reasoning goes wrong, why the dissents matter, and — critically — what still works.  Because even though it seems the door is shrinking---  it hasn't closed. If you litigate compassionate release, this episode is required listening!   IN THIS EPISODE: History of compassionate release; (25:12) Discussion of Fernandez; Advice for arguing around these two restrictive opinions; (39:00) Discussion of Rutherford; How both opinions usurp the role of both Congress and the US Sentencing Commission; (56:00)  How two pending cases, Maxwell and Beaird, may impact future compassionate release cases   LINKS: Sentencing Law and Policy – A new home for SL&P  (Berman's Blog) A great substack where Prof. Berman frequently contributes:  Sentencing Matters Substack | DAB | Substack On that note, here's a great SM Substack piece from today on this very issue: https://open.substack.com/pub/sentencing/p/textualism-in-name-policymaking-in?r=1f0z1k&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email Link to Judge Block's Book, A Second Chance: A Federal Judge Decides Who Deserves It, on Amazon:  https://a.co/d/07xJD1zs Drugs on the Docket, Season 3:  Excited for start to Season Three of "Drugs on the Docket" podcast | Sentencing Law and Policy Set for Sentencing is heading to Substack!  We have not officially launched, but by all means, subscribe for future awesomeness coming down the pike: https://substack.com/@dougpassonlaw