Welcome back to the Big Law Business column. I’m Roy Strom, and today we explore how a Debevoise & Plimpton pro bono project might make its way to the Supreme Court. Sign up to receive this column in your Inbox on Thursday mornings.
John Gleeson has been fighting against what he refers to as the injustice of “stacked” mandatory prison sentences for the past eight years. The former federal judge has been leading the charge to reform the criminal justice system. Now, his work at Debevoise & Plimpton is facing a major challenge: a showdown with the Justice Department at the US Supreme Court.
Gleeson, a former prosecutor who served as a federal district judge in Brooklyn for two decades, joined Debevoise in 2016. He is the driving force behind “The Holloway Project,” a significant pro bono effort focused on reforming the criminal justice system. The project primarily represents middle-aged Black men convicted of crimes involving firearms and sentenced under outdated mandatory minimum provisions that imposed consecutive decades-long terms. Debevoise aims to reduce sentences for clients who have shown signs of rehabilitation after spending years in prison. The project is named after Francois Holloway, a man sentenced by Gleeson to 57 years behind bars for a robbery case. Holloway’s sentence was later reduced in 2014 after Gleeson appealed to Loretta Lynch, the former federal prosecutor.
Debevoise lawyers have successfully represented 55 people so far, reducing their combined prison sentences by 2,230 years. However, the project is now facing legal challenges as the DOJ contests Sentencing Commission guidelines that have been used to obtain reduced sentences in some cases.
Gleeson believes the project’s legal challenges will eventually reach the Supreme Court. The DOJ’s arguments against the guidelines mark a change in their stance, as they previously urged the Supreme Court to wait for the Sentencing Commission to define “extraordinary and compelling” reasons for sentence reductions.
Despite his involvement in developing the guidelines, Gleeson has recused himself from arguments related to them due to his role on the Commission. Debevoise partner David O’Neil is now leading the project’s appeals efforts. As the project navigates through legal challenges, the future of criminal justice reform remains uncertain.
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