Rand Paul Slams Attorney General Jeff Sessions

Senators Rand Paul and Patrick Leahy just completed a national media conference call to discuss the Department of Justice’s return to strictly enforcing mandatory minimum sentences and Attorney General Jeff Sessions' instructions to federal prosecutors to bring the most "serious, readily approvable offense" charge in all cases moving forward.

Senator Paul said he was "surprised at how aggressive [Sessions] is going in the opposite direction" from the direction of   Paul and Leahy.

The Senators have previously introduced the Justice Safety Valve Act, which would create a brand-new, broad “safety valve” that would apply to all federal crimes carrying mandatory minimum sentences.

If passed, the Justice Safety Valve Act would allow judges to sentence federal offenders below the mandatory minimum sentence whenever that minimum term does not fulfill the goals of punishment and other sentencing criteria listed at 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a).

Senator Paul cited one example of an individual who was sentenced because of the minimum mandatory to 25 years for selling some of his painkillers to a "friend" who turned out to be a government informant.

-RW