WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Ranking
Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick
Durbin (D-Ill.), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today released the
following statement after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Tarahrick Terry v.
United States, a case related to the interpretation of provisions of the First
Step Act of 2018 (FSA) and the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010:
“Obviously, we argued for a different result in
this case. We had hoped a majority of the justices would agree, but this
decision doesn’t mean that nothing can be done. It’s now up to Congress to
clarify the statute to unambiguously address sentencing in the cases like Mr.
Terry’s.”
The
Fair Sentencing Act, authored by Durbin,
reduced the federal sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine from
100:1 to 18:1. In 2018, Durbin, Grassley, U.S. Senators Cory Booker
(D-NJ), and Mike Lee (R-UT) were the lead sponsors of the
First Step Act,
which made the
Fair Sentencing Act retroactive. Durbin, Grassley,
Booker, and Lee submitted an
Amicus
Brief to the case earlier this year.
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