Ground zero for post-Booker crack/powder debate

This extended and thoughtful article, which ran on the front page in Sunday’s Providence Journal, highlights that Rhode Island is perhaps ground zero in the on-going post-Booker debate over the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine.  The article provides an extended account of Rhode Island District Judge William Smith’s decision in US v. Perry (discussed here), in which Judge Smith found “that the crack/powder disparity cannot stand up to the scrutiny of analysis under 18 U.S.C. § 3553.”  The article also discusses the First Circuit appeal from Rhode Island Chief Judge Torres’s similar decision in US v. Pho (discussed here), in which the government lays out its opposition to any across-the-board sentence adjustment based on the crack/powder disparity.

Additional blog coverage of these issues can be found here and here and here.