Three Wins for Criminal Defendants Today: The Supreme Court handed down three cases today, and all three were victories for criminal defendants in federal cases.

  In Kimbrough v. United States, the Court held by a vote of 7-2 that the 100-to-1 crack/cocaine disparity in the sentencing guidelines need not be followed by district court judges. If a trial judge thinks crack sentences are too high to achieve the purposes of the sentence, the judge is free to lower the sentence.

  In Gall v. United States the Court held 7-2 that when a district court sentences a defendant to a below-guidelines sentence, that sentence should be reviewed only under a deferential abuse of discretion standard. Applying that standard to Gall, the Court holds that it was not an abuse of discretion for the district judge to sentence the defendant to probation even though his guidelines range was 30-37 months. Taken together, Gall and Kimbrough appear to be enormous victories for opponents of the Sentencing Guidelines — at least until the political branches respond to them.

  Finally, in Watson v. United States, the Court held 9-0 that while (under an earlier precedent) trading a gun for drugs is using a gun in a drug transaction, being on the other end and receiving the gun is not use of a gun in a drug transaction.

  Incidentally, I think Gall and Kimbrough are decent candidates for the JGR Umpire Watch; these cases have a great deal of political resonance and split the Justices at least in part.