Supreme Court rulings created only the possibility, not the guarantee, of release

Evidence

The Graham decision and a 2012 case we took to the Supreme Court, Miller v. Alabama, which banned imposing mandatory sentences of life without parole on children, created the possibility of release for thousands of imprisoned people who had been condemned as minors. However, obtaining parole or release was not guaranteed. Legal appeals would have to be filed, and judges and parole boards would have to be persuaded to grant relief. — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 838

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Winning a landmark legal ruling does not guarantee winning the underlying case — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law: An Introduction, 1905