In late June, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Beckles v. United States, 136 S.Ct. 2510 (2016). Beckles actually raises three questions, but only two of them are pertinent here: (1) is the “residual clause” of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines’ career offender provision void for vagueness under Johnson v. United States, 135 S.Ct. 2551 (2014); and (2) can a defendant whose Guidelines sentence became final before Johnson issued nonetheless invoke Johnson‘s new rule in a motion filed under 28 U.S.C. §2255. In its recently filed merits brief, the government argues that the answer to question (1) is “yes,” but that Beckles and thousands like him have no legal remedy because the answer to question (2) is “no.”

The government’s non-retroactivity argument in Beckles represents a total reversal of the position it took before the en banc Eleventh Circuit only one month before Johnson issued. And that reversal seems to stem from the government’s concern about the costs the justice system would incur from conducting resentencings for prisoners who very likely would receive lower sentences were they afforded a remedy. The government’s belief that the costs of dispensing justice outweigh the benefits (i.e., less prison time for thousands of people the government acknowledges have been over-sentenced) is eye-opening, to say the least. That it has broadcast that belief in a Supreme Court brief is downright disturbing.

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