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Aruba’s ONLY English newspaper
A r u b a ’ s O N L Y E n g l i s h n e w s p a p e r
The Supreme Court will hear a case with a lot of ‘buts’ & ‘ifs’ over

the meaning of ‘and’

By Mark Sherman parsing of a part of a feder-
Associated Press al statute, the First Step Act,
WASHINGTON (AP) — It's which aimed in part to re-
hard to imagine a less con- duce mandatory minimum
tentious or more innocent sentences and give judges
word than “and.” more discretion.
But how to interpret that In particular, the justices will
simple conjunction has be examining a so-called
prompted a complicated safety valve provision that
legal fight that lands in the is meant to spare low-level,
Supreme Court on Oct. 2, nonviolent drug dealers
the first day of its new term. who agree to plead guilty
What the justices decide and cooperate with prose-
could affect thousands cutors from having to face
of prison sentences each often longer mandatory
year. sentences.
Federal courts across the It's much more than an
country disagree about exercise in diagramming
whether the word, as it is a sentence. Nearly 6,000
used in a bipartisan 2018 people convicted of drug
criminal justice overhaul, trafficking in the 2021 budg-
indeed means “and” or et year alone are in the
whether it means “or.” Even pool of those who might The Supreme Court is seen in Washington, with the U.S. Capitol in the distance, Nov. 4, 2020.
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
an appellate panel that be eligible for reduced sen-
upheld a longer sentence tences, according to data The provision lists three cri- ing if a defendant “does Lawyers for Mark Pulsifer,
called the structure of the compiled by the U.S. Sen- teria for allowing judges to not have” three sorts of the inmate whose chal-
provision “perplexing.” tencing Commission. forgo a mandatory mini- criminal history. lenge the court will hear,
The Supreme Court has Overall, more than 10,000 mum sentence that basi- The question is how to de- say all three conditions
stepped in to settle the dis- people sentenced since cally look to the severity of termine eligibility for the must apply before the
pute. the law took effect could prior crimes. Congress did safety valve — whether any longer sentence can be
It's the kind of task the jus- be affected, according to not make it easy by writing of the conditions is enough imposed. The government
tices — and maybe their Douglas Berman, an expert the section in the negative to disqualify someone or says just one condition is
English teachers — love. on sentencing at Ohio State so that a judge can exer- whether it takes all three to enough to merit the man-
The case requires the close University's law school. cise discretion in sentenc- be ineligible. datory minimum.q