“A bipartisan bill to reduce sentences for nonviolent federal offenders stands atop the short list of significant legislation Congress might actually pass in this election year, but a Capitol Hill hearing Wednesday demonstrated just how tenuous even that bill’s chances are in a bitterly divided Congress.

“The Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony on a narrow but crucial issue that has emerged as the main political obstacle to a criminal justice reform bill: to what degree prosecutors must prove a defendant’s criminal intent in order to win convictions for certain federal crimes.”