dispense with the detailed Solem analysis. "A better reading of our cases leads to the conclusion that intrajurisdictional and interjurisdictional analyses are appropriate only in the rare case in which a threshold comparison of the crime committed and the sentence imposed leads to an inference of gross disproportionality." The mandatory nature of Harmelin's sentence also did not require setting it aside. First, as Scalia agreed, the Eighth Amendment did not require the trial court to allow Harmelin to present mitigating evidence. Second, if the Court were to set Harmelin's sentence aside, it would necessarily have to reject the judgment of the legislature, where the initial responsibility for making the substantive judgment about appropriate punishments rests. Third, Michigan's system did not entirely lack mechanisms for considering the individual circumstances of a particular defendant. Prosecutors have discretion in bringing charges, the governor has the power to grant clemency post hoc, and the legislature has the power to retroactively modify the sentence for all persons convicted of Harmelin's crime. White's criticism of Kennedy's argument For Justice White, Kennedy's narrow proportionality principle effectively "eviscerates" Solem, leaving only an "empty shell" in its place. How could the inter- and intrajurisdictional comparisons required by Solem be anything but objective? And if, as Kennedy conceded, proportionality analysis should be informed by objective factors as much as possible, how else could those objective factors come into play except through the Solem test? See the lengthy discussion in support of the Solem test in chapters 1 and 2 in Dennis J. Baker, The Right Not to be Criminalized: Demarcating Criminal Law's Authority (Ashgate, 2011) Because White disagreed that Solem should be abandoned, he proceeded to apply it to Harmelin's sentence, and concluded that Harmelin's sentence was unconstitutional. First, because Michigan has no death penalty, the life-without-parole sentence for possession of of cocaine was the most severe available under Michigan law. Second, it reserved the sentence for only one other crime—first-degree murder. Third, no other jurisdiction imposed such a severe sentence for possession of 650 grams of cocaine. Alabama came close, White observed, but only when the defendant possessed of cocaine. Thus, White concluded, Solem required the Court to strike down Harmelin's sentence. Aftermath In 1998, the Michigan legislature revised the law to make "650-lifer" offenders eligible for parole after 17-20 years in prison. The change was applied retroactively to people like Harmelin. See also List of United States Supreme