Supreme Court rules 8-1 in Fernandez v. United States that compassionate release cannot be used to challenge conviction validity

The Supreme Court affirmed the Second Circuit 8-1, holding that 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A) authorizes courts to reduce a sentence based on "extraordinary and compelling reasons" but does not authorize courts to use doubts about conviction validity as a basis for release. Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented alone, arguing the majority read an implicit limitation into the statute that Congress did not write. The ruling settled a circuit split and foreclosed compassionate release as a vehicle for collateral attacks on conviction validity across all federal circuits.