Supreme Court of the United States

Lopez v. Davis

January 10, 2001531 U.S. 230

Summary

Justice Ginsburg, writing for six Justices, held that the Bureau of Prisons permissibly excluded from early-release eligibility prisoners whose current felony involved a firearm. Section 3621(e)(2)(B) authorizes, but does not require, sentence reductions for nonviolent offenders who successfully complete drug treatment. The Bureau may consider preconviction conduct and adopt categorical exclusions, and its firearm exclusion reasonably addresses public-safety risks. The Court affirmed the Eighth Circuit. Justice Stevens dissented, joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justice Kennedy, arguing that Congress guaranteed qualifying nonviolent offenders individualized consideration, although not a sentence reduction, and that the Bureau could not categorically exclude them based on preconviction conduct.

Holding

  • Discretion to deny sentence reductions based on preconviction conduct.. The Bureau has authority, but no duty, to reduce the sentence of a nonviolent offender who successfully completes drug treatment, and it may consider preconviction conduct when exercising that authority.
  • Authority to establish categorical exclusions.. The Bureau may categorically exclude otherwise statutorily eligible prisoners from early-release consideration rather than decide every application individually.
  • Validity of the firearm-related exclusion.. The regulation excluding prisoners whose current felony involved carrying, possessing, or using a firearm is a permissible exercise of the Bureau's statutory discretion.

Docket 99-7504

Cited authorities

  • 21 U.S.C. §§ 841
  • 18 U.S.C. §§ 3621
  • 28 C.F.R. §§ 550.57
  • CA10
  • CA11
  • CA10
  • CA11
  • 18 U.S.C. § 3621

Cited by

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