Harvard Clinic Helps Prisoners with Religion at Supreme Court

Religion isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when looking at the Supreme Court’s latest criminal-sentencing dispute.

But it’s “lurking in the background,” Joshua McDaniel said on Bloomberg Law’s Cases and Controversies podcast.

Harvard Law’s religious-freedom clinic director explained what the new clinic does and how it got involved in that sentencing case, Concepcion v. United States. The clinic’s amicus brief highlighted spiritual growth and conversion as powerful evidence of rehabilitation for prisoners seeking resentencing under the First Step Act.

The case argued Jan. 19 isn’t the only criminal appeal the clinic is involved in this term, ...