This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
One U.S. senator from Utah is pushing political compromise to keep an important bill on track. The other Utah senator is demanding more ideological purity in the bill, and he won't support it without.
If that sounds like much of the Orrin Hatch/Mike Lee era, at least this case brings some novelty. It's Lee pushing the compromise and Hatch holding out this time.
At issue is the criminal justice reform bill that Lee reached across the aisle to craft with Senate Democrats. If passed, the bill would divert more federal criminals to drug-treatment and mental health programs to lower the prison population and reduce recidivism. It reflects a change in the conventional wisdom of relying mainly on incarceration to address crime, and has been embraced by many conservatives who once pushed for longer, harsher sentences. The bill also includes language to make it apply retroactively, meaning that some of those sentenced to harsher sentences could have their cases reviewed in light of this new thinking. Utah's Weldon Angelos, who received a 55-year sentence for selling marijuana while carrying a gun, could be one of the convictions reviewed.
Hatch is on board with that, but he also wants to extend judicial reform to include mens rea reform. Mens rea, Latin for "guilty mind," refers to the criminal intent of an illegal act. Hatch gives the example of the law requiring dog walkers in federal parks to have no more than six feet of leash. Those with longer leashes are violating federal law, but they lack criminal intent. Hatch wants to require prosecutors in all federal cases to prove "willful" intent to violate the law. Lee is not opposed to mens rea reform, but he fears adding it to this bill will endanger the bipartisan support he has nurtured. Democrats are concerned that a blanket requirement of "willful" intent will reduce convictions in complicated white-collar crime cases where the accused often argue they didn't understand the law or didn't intend to violate it.
And that's a good point. Those cases are among the hardest to prosecute, and Hatch's demand would make it harder. And can it be argued that we're convicting too many white-collar criminals in this country? No.
Meanwhile, Lee faces pushback from his fellow conservatives who are less convinced that those suspected of drug offenses deserve leniency. While he tries to hold on to the Democrats, he's also vexed by his own party's entrenchment. Time is not necessarily on his side.
Lee is right in this case, and he also gets high marks for staying in the battle. Compromise is often at the heart of progress, and no one knows that better than Hatch.