SCOTUS ruling in Concepcion, while addressing crack cases, should also resolve circuit split on compassionate release factors

There are many notable aspects to the Supreme Court's work this morning in Concepcion v. US, No. 20-1650 (S. Ct. June 27, 2022) (available here).  The votes alone could justify many posts, with Justices Thomas and Gorsuch joining an opinion broadly praising broad district court sentencing discretion (citing historical cases for good measure), and with all the other conservative justices embracing a fairly impractical (and unjust) statutory construction without considering any statutory canons. 

More generally, in keeping with my prior complaints about the oral arguments in this case, I was struck that none of the opinions in Concepcion mention sentencing purposes or justice or fairness even once in a case that concerns efforts by Congress to give full effect to the Fair Sentencing Act through the FIRST STEP Act.  The fundamental legal issue in Concepcion was whether a group of defendants (almost all of whom are persons of color) who have been serving, according to Congress, unjust and wrongful federal sentences for more than a dozen years should be limited in how they can now argue for more just and rightful sentences.  And, given that the defendant in the case had already served 15 years (of a 19-year sentence) for a conviction based on selling a tablespoon of crack, there are an array of rich legal and human stories here that justify further attention.

But, as the title of this post highlights, I am already thinking about what the Concepcion ruling means outside the crack context.  Specifically, I think the decision resolves not only the circuit split surrounding crack resentencing cases, but also the circuit split surrounding what factors can serve as the basis for compassionate release after the FIRST STEP Act.  Let me explain.

As most recently highlighted via this post about a First Circuit ruling in February, there is a deep circuit split about whether non-retroactive changes in sentencing law may constitute "extraordinary and compelling reasons" for compassionate release.  Ever the textualist, I have argued that non-retroactive changes in sentencing law can provide the basis for compassion release because nothing in the text of § 3582(c)(1)(a) supports the contention that non-retroactive changes cannot ever constitute "extraordinary and compelling reasons" to allow a sentence reduction, either alone or in combination with other factors.  But I believe the Third, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Circuits have all formally held otherwise.  And yet, this language from the Supreme Court's opinion in Concepcion would seem to undercut any court efforts to invent extra-textual limits on sentencing or resentencing considerations:

It is only when Congress or the Constitution limits the scope of information that a district court may consider in deciding whether, and to what extent, to modify a sentence, that a district court’s discretion to consider information is restrained....

Federal courts historically have exercised this broad discretion to consider all relevant information at an initial sentencing hearing, consistent with their responsibility to sentence the whole person before them.  That discretion also carries forward to later proceedings that may modify an original sentence.  Such discretion is bounded only when Congress or the Constitution expressly limits the type of information a district court may consider in modifying a sentence....

The only limitations on a court’s discretion to consider any relevant materials at an initial sentencing or in modifying that sentence are those set forth by Congress in a statute or by the Constitution....

Moreover, when raised by the parties, district courts have considered nonretroactive Guidelines amendments to help inform whether to reduce sentences at all, and if so, by how much....  Nothing express or implicit in the First Step Act suggests that these courts misinterpreted the Act in considering such relevant and probative information.

All this language about a court's broad discretion not only at initial sentencing but also when considering a sentence modification is directly relevant to federal judges' consideration of so-called compassionate release motions.  Concepcion makes plain, contrary to the problematic rulings of some circuits, that the "only limitation" on valid considerations are those in the Constitution or that Congress has expressly set forth.  And thus the Supreme Court's textualist ruling here ought to not only benefit Carlos Concepcion, but also every federal prisoner moving for compassionate release on any and all possible grounds not expressly excluded by Congress or the Constitution.

Prior related post:

• Via 5-4 ruling, Supreme Court stresses broad sentencing discretion in crack resentencing case Concepcion