In contrast to Mr. Sessions’s views on drug crimes, the Obama administration pushed for more lenient and flexible sentencing laws and presided over the first decline in the federal prison population in a generation.

…Mr. Holder has said his policies were intended to reduce taxpayer spending on prisons and other public safety costs and to ease inequities in the justice system by scrutinizing the circumstances of each case rather than applying one-size-fits-all punishments of the toughest variety.

Mr. Sessions has argued that the Obama administration’s less aggressive approach toward prosecuting drug cases has inspired other crimes.

…Should Mr. Sessions push for a uniformly strict posture in prosecuting drug crimes, it would mark a significant shift in tone.

“Many advocates think there are too many mandatory minimums, and that federal charging in general is still too harsh, even after the shift in policy under Holder,” Ms. Starr said. “But this isn’t especially surprising given what we know about the attorney general and the president and their view on criminal justice.”

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Meh, a lot of totally-not-at-all-rooted-in-fact bullshit justifying his actions when Sessions just wants to put more black people in jail.