Pubdate: Wed, 21 Jul 2004
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Page: B9
Copyright: 2004 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Note: By a Wall Street Journal Staff Reporter
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Blakely (Blakely v. Washington)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/sentencing+guidelines
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SEEKS COURT RULING TO RESTORE SENTENCING

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department Solicitor General's Office is expected 
to ask the Supreme Court as early as today to rule on two cases it hopes 
will restore the status quo to a federal sentencing system that has been in 
chaos since a June high-court ruling.

Several circuit courts have ruled the federal sentencing guidelines are 
unconstitutional since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against state 
guidelines in the Blakely v. Washington case. In that 5-4 decision, the 
court said that any factor increasing a criminal sentence must be admitted 
by the defendant in a plea deal or proved to a jury, effectively barring a 
judge from using information in increasing a defendant's sentence that 
wasn't heard or decided by the jury. The ruling was related to guidelines 
used in Washington state, but the ramifications of the ruling have been 
most acutely felt in the federal system.

The Justice Department had sought cases it could push to the Supreme Court 
to support the department's belief that the guidelines are constitutional.

The two cases are prosecutions of Ducan Fanfan of Massachusetts, and 
Freddie J. Booker of Wisconsin. The cases, previously identified in the New 
York Times, both include drug convictions where federal judges ruled that 
the Blakely decision limited the information judges could use to impose 
harsher sentences on the men.

Mr. Booker's attorney, T. Christopher Kelly, of Madison Wis., said the 
department has indicated the decision would be this week and that he would 
have seven days to respond.

Mr. Fanfan's attorney, Rosemary Curran Scapicchio, said the court could 
likely decide whether to hear the Justice Department's appeal by Aug. 2. 
Both attorneys have said they haven't decided whether to oppose the Justice 
Department's move.

The Supreme Court has on certain occasions taken cases on an expedited 
basis. Last year, the court heard arguments on campaign finance in 
September, although its session didn't begin until October. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake