WASHINGTON INSIGHT

LOST IN THE SHUFFLE: The Bush Administration has found once again that it has an ally in the Supreme Court. At issue: Who has the power to decide how much a convicted felon’s sentence can be shortened for time already served . . . the sentencing judge or the attorney general? The problem with giving this authority to the attorney general is that, when Congress updated the sentencing laws, it dropped all references to the AG. Nevertheless, the Administration said the attorney general should have that power anyway, and the court agreed. In a 7-2 ruling sharply criticized by two dissenting justices, the court used an unusual premise. Perhaps the words “attorney general” were “simply lost in the shuffle,” wrote Justice Clarence Thomas.