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Supreme Court Enhances Judges' Sentencing Discretion
In a pair of important decisions Monday, the Supreme Court gave federal trial judges much greater latitude to deviate from federal sentencing guidelines. In one of the decisions, the Court voted 7-2 to allow judges to weigh the controversial disparity between guideline sentences for crack and powder cocaine offenses in giving defendants a below-guideline sentence. A separate ruling with potentially broader impact had the same 7-2 lineup of justices.