HLR case comment on crack ruling

I noted a great Harvard Law Review note on lethal injection litigation here, and now I have the opportunity to spotlight a great forthcoming HLR casenote on US v. Spears, the Eighth Circuit post-Booker crack ruling.  The casenote can be downloaded below, and here is a snippet:

Recently, in United States v. Spears, the Eighth Circuit ruled that it was impermissible for a district judge to grant a reduced sentence to a crack offender based on categorical disagreement with the ratio. This decision relied on questionable conclusions about Congress’s intent regarding both the 100:1 ratio and the place of judicial policy choices in a post-Booker world, and its result cabins judges into a cramped and counterproductive role in the sentencing of crack offenders.

Download recent_case_united_states_v. Spears, 120 Harv. L. Rev. ___ (forthcoming May 2007).pdf