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By Robert Barnes, The Washington Post – It was in a rare burst of bipartisanship that Congress in 2010 passed the Fair Sentencing Act, which attempted to close the sentencing gap between those convicted of crack cocaine offenses, who tend to be black, and those with powdered cocaine offenses, who tend to be white.

But Congress left a key bit of the legislation unexplained: whether the reduced sentences for crack should apply to those who committed their crimes before the law took effect but who were not sentenced until afterward.

An hour-long argument at the Supreme Court on Tuesday did not seem to produce a definitive answer.

Lawmakers intended for the new sentencing structure to take effect immediately, said Stephen B. Eberhardt, a lawyer arguing for two Illinois men who did not receive the benefits of the measure even though they were sentenced after President Obama signed it in August 2010. Read the full story at The WashingtonPost.com

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