U.S. Sentencing Vice Chair: ‘Surprised’ Holder Unilaterally Reducing Drug Sentences

‘This action of the attorney general has been taken in total disregard of ... the need to avoid unwarranted disparity’

U.S. Sentencing Vice Chair: 'Surprised' at Holder Reducing Drug Sentences 'Outside of the Legal System' (CNS News)

Two federal judges on the U.S. Sentencing Commission said Thursday that Attorney General Eric Holder stepped "outside the legal system" and exceeded the authority of the executive branch by sending "improper instruction" to federal prosecutors to reduce drug sentences before they were officially approved by either the commission or Congress.

"I have been surprised at the attorney general's steps taken to proceed with this reduction outside of the legal system set up and established by the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984," commission vice-chair Ricardo Hinojosa said during a public hearing in the Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building in Washingon.

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