Near-Vacant Sentencing Panel Gives Biden Chance for Fresh Start

Six of seven possible seats on the U.S. Sentencing Commission remain empty, giving President Joe Biden an opportunity to remake the panel at a time when overhauling criminal justice is a rare example of bipartisan consensus.

The commission has only one member now and hasn’t had the quorum required to make new guidance since January 2019. That’s led to courts relying on outdated guidance in areas like compassionate release requests, which have been filed at unprecedented levels during the pandemic.

In addition to taking up issues that have been unaddressed, a new set of commissioners could help review the decades-old ...