Justices Limit First Step Act’s Compassionate Release Expansion

The First Step Act didn’t give federal judges free reign in deciding what factors to consider when deciding compassionate release petitions from inmates, the Supreme Court said.

The justices in a separate opinion on Thursday also said changes to firearm and drug offense guidelines in the landmark 2018 bipartisan sentencing reform law that Congress chose not to apply retroactively can’t be used to seek sentence reductions by inmates convicted prior to its enactment.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote for the 8-1 court in the first case involving a man convicted in a murder-for-hire plot. Petitioner Joe Fernandez, she wrote, can’t ...