"Attorney General Ashcroft wants his prosecutors to name those
who are imposing lenient sentences"
First published: Sunday, August 10, 2003
A s the nation's chief law enforcement official, Attorney General
John Ashcroft has a duty to prosecute those accused of federal
crimes or suspected of endangering national security. But his
duties end there. Or at least they should.
Yet Mr. Ashcroft doesn't see it that way. He wants to extend his
reach into the courtroom or, more specifically, into the judges'
chambers. According to a Washington Post report, Mr. Ashcroft, in
a memo to U.S. attorneys across the nation, says he wants the
names of those judges who impose sentences that are "downward
departures" from federal guidelines.
The Justice Department insists that the request is not to send an
implicit warning to judges who might be inclined to leniency.
Rather, department officials insist that the list is needed for
uniformity's sake -- that is, so that the department can decide
which sentences to appeal as well as to ensure that justice is
administered uniformly nationwide.
In truth, Congress must share a good deal of the blame for giving
Mr. Ashcroft the grounds for his initiative. Indeed, it is
another example of how ill-advised amendments are often attached
to otherwise meritorious legislation. In this case, Congress
wanted to approve "Amber alert" legislation to help police find
abducted children. But the Justice Department managed to persuade
lawmakers to tack on an amendment to that legislation that makes
it more difficult for judges to veer from federal sentencing
guidelines. At the time, Chief Justice William Rehnquist and the
American Bar Association objected. The chief justice warned that
the amendment "would seriously impair the ability of courts to
impose just and reasonable sentences."
According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, roughly half of the
lighter sentences imposed by judges came as the result of plea
bargains agreed to by prosecutors. Those plea bargains, usually
offered as a way to elicit information that leads to solving
crimes, will now be that much harder to forge.
Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., says the Ashcroft memo is tantamount
to blacklisting judges. At the least, it is ill-advised. Congress
must repeal its amendment and give discretion back to the judges.
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=159367
&category=OPINION&BCCode=&newsdate=8/10/2003
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