DOJ Request to Amend Opinion on Early Release Denied by 6th Cir.

The Sixth Circuit said it won’t modify an April 22 opinion rejecting part of the US Sentencing Commission’s policy on compassionate release, despite the Justice Department’s concern that the decision may be misconstrued.

The government filed the motion April 25, asking the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit to remove a specific section of the opinion that it said could be read to suggest that the compassionate release statute never permits a court to reduce a defendant’s sentence below the statutory mandatory minimum.

Such a categorical suggestion would be overbroad, the government said. Though a district court’s authority ...