The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has adopted a generous construction of a section of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines in construing a 2007 amendment passed to reduce the disparity between crack-cocaine and powder-cocaine prison terms.

Ruling that a Connecticut man is eligible for a sentencing reduction despite the fact he was classified as a career offender, the circuit said a sentencing judge who apparently wanted to order a lesser term has the discretion to do so.