After 8 years of the Obama administration relaxing sentencing guidelines for drug dealers, you know because it's just racist to jail drug dealers moving cocaine by the kilo, and releasing hundreds of hardened criminals from federal prisons around the country, Jeff Sessions has taken it upon himself to undo yet another component of Obama's "legacy."
"It is a core principle that prosecutors should charge and pursue the most serious, readily provable offense. This policy affirms our responsibility to enforce the law, is moral and just, and produces consistency."
"This policy fully utilizes the tools Congress has given us. By definition, the most serious offenses are those that carry the most substantial guidelines sentence, including mandatory minimum sentences."
Per The Hill, the new guidelines instruct prosecutors to "disclose to the sentencing court all facts that impact the sentencing guidelines or mandatory minimum sentences" — a significant departure from Holder's policies, which directed prosecutors not to disclose the quantity of drugs to courts to avoid strict mandatory minimum sentences, unless the defendant was a gang leader or repeat criminal offender.
Not surprisingly, Eric Holder was outraged by Sessions' decision to actually enforce laws and issued the following statement:
Former Attorney General Eric Holder statement... pic.twitter.com/VuXn5VmMHI
— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) May 12, 2017
As we noted in January, on the day before leaving office, President Obama commuted the sentences of another 330 federal prisoners, shattering his previous single-day record and bringing his total to 1,715, more than the previous 13 presidents combined. In addition, the President pardoned 212 federal prisoners bringing his total acts of clemency to 1,927.
BREAKING: @POTUS has now commuted the sentences of 1,715 men and women, more than any president in history. https://t.co/3NRkJnCEy4 pic.twitter.com/j7gCdigJqD
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 19, 2017
This latest move concluded Obama's mission to aggressively use his clemency power to release 100's of violent criminals serving time due to what he has described as "outdated and overly harsh drug sentencing laws." But, while the President often claimed publicly that his commutations were only for "low-level" and "non-violent" criminals, 568 of the 1,715 commutations were offered to people serving life sentences...which typically aren't given to "low-level" criminals caught with a couple ounces of drugs on them.
Here is how Obama's acts of clemency stacked up against other Presidents...can anyone spot the outlier?
We can't wait for Democrats, we're looking at you Maxine Waters, to explain to how racist it is for Jeff Sessions to insist that law enforcement officials and courts actually enforce laws. The horror.
http://www.scribd.com/embeds/348144494/content