Backbencher of the Week

This week a sub-committee of the House Judiciary Committee passed the Fairness in Cocaine Sentencing Act.  The at is designed to end the sentencing disparity between powder and crack cocaine.  Crimes involving crack cocaine are often sentenced at a rate 100 times higher then powder cocaine, and this difference disproportionately affects African-Americans.  The bill still has to pass the entire Judiciary Committee and both the full House and Senate.  However, during the confirmation hearings for Judge Sotomayor, Sen. Jeff Sessions(R-AL) seemed to indicate that the Senate wold pass a bill to rectify the disparity.

The sponsor of the Fairness in Cocaine Sentencing act is Rep. Bobby Scott(D-VA-3) and he is this week's Backbencher of the Week.  There is still a long a lot work that needs to be done to bring sanity to our system of dealing with illegal drugs.  However, the work of Rep. Scott is an important step towards bringing a sense of fairness to how the justice system deals with narcotics.  Congratulations to Rep. Bobby Scott for bringing some fairness to our justice system and for being Backbencher of the Week.