Lopez v. Davis

Summary

Justice Stevens, joined by the Chief Justice and Justice Kennedy, dissented from the Court's approval of the Bureau of Prisons regulation categorically denying sentence-reduction consideration to certain prisoners with nonviolent convictions who completed drug treatment. He reasoned that the statute expressly identifies violent offenses as the categorical exclusion and therefore guarantees qualifying nonviolent offenders consideration, although not entitlement, for a reduction. The dissent would have invalidated the regulation because the Bureau exceeded its discretion by adding a categorical exclusion Congress did not enact.