Washington, DC – On news today that the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Montgomery v. Louisiana, which made retroactive its previous ruling in Miller v. Alabama that mandatory sentences of life without parole to juveniles are unconstitutional, Constitutional Accountability Center issued the following reaction:

CAC Appellate Counsel Brianne Gorod said, “The Court should be applauded for recognizing today that no juvenile should be sentenced to mandatory life without parole and respecting the Eighth Amendment protection against disproportionate sentences. Indeed, the Court recognized what our brief on behalf of former juvenile court judges made clear, applying Miller retroactively will not ‘impose an onerous burden on the States.’”

CAC President Elizabeth Wydra added, “As the Court reaffirmed today, juveniles are categorically different than adults, and ‘children who commit even heinous crimes are capable of change.’ This matters when it comes to sentencing, and the Court was right to recognize that. The Court followed the Constitution’s text and history today and ruled for mercy and Justice.”

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Resources:

CAC “friend of the court” brief in Montgomery v. Louisiana: http://theusconstitution.org/cases/montgomery-v-louisiana-us-sup-ct

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Constitutional Accountability Center (www.theusconstitution.org) is a think tank, public interest law firm, and action center dedicated to fulfilling the progressive promise of the Constitution’s text and history.

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