Crack Case, Biden Switch Bring Bipartisanship to Supreme Court

The Supreme Court wades into the war on drugs Tuesday, considering a case delayed by the Biden administration’s last-minute change of position on allowing shorter sentences for potentially hundreds of people convicted of possessing small quantities of crack cocaine.

The administration is part of an unusually lopsided set of litigants urging the court to let more people take advantage of the First Step Act, a 2018 criminal justice reform law that included retroactive reduction of many drug sentences. Lawmakers from both parties, along with both conservative and liberal groups, say Congress intended for the law to encompass low-level offenders.

Although ...