Justice Jackson Calls For Revising White-Collar Term Guidelines

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson would support revisiting federal sentencing guidelines for white collar crime because the current framework leads to uneven punishments, Reuters reports. The amount of money involved has more sway than the level of culpability, Jackson said at an American Bar Association conference in Miami. "Fairness requires that similarly situated defendants be treated similarly." "I'd like to see the guidelines revisited as a whole," she said to applause from white collar criminal defense lawyers. Jackson, an appointee of former Democratic President Biden, previously served on the U.S. Sentencing Commission, which develops guidelines for judges to consider as they impose sentences.

While on the commission, she said the recommended sentences in white collar cases "ratcheted way, way up" because of the rising amount of money involved in fraud schemes. Judges are not required to impose a sentence within the guidelines. Some violent crimes and drug offenses carry mandatory minimum sentences, while white collar crimes do not, Jackson said. Asked about the court's 6-3 decision last year declaring broad immunity from criminal prosecutions for presidents, in a challenge brought by President Trump, Jackson pointed to her dissent arguing the decision was introducing inequality in the criminal justice system. On the court, Jackson said she was closest in age and life circumstances with Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump appointee, and the two frequently talk about being working mothers.

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