Plain-English summary
Court holds resentenced defendants can get First Step Act sentence reductions even if original sentence predated the law
The Supreme Court decided that the First Step Act’s reduced-sentencing rules apply when a defendant who was originally sentenced before the Act is later resentenced after the Act’s passage. The Court reversed the Fifth Circuit and sent the case back for further proceedings consistent with that ruling.
Why this matters
The decision affects who can get shorter federal sentences under the First Step Act. By allowing resentenced defendants whose original sentences predated the law to seek reductions, the ruling increases the number of people who may be eligible for lighter sentences and directs lower courts how to apply the law on remand.
Who may feel it
- Federal defendants who were originally sentenced before the First Step Act but later had those sentences vacated and are
- courts conducting resentencings after the First Step Act took effect
- defense lawyers and prosecutors handling resentencings
- families of incarcerated people and reentry advocates
Key questions
- Does the First Step Act’s sentencing-reduction provision apply at a resentencing that takes place after the Act’s enactment, even when the defendant’s original sentence was entered before the Act?