Mark your calenders for USSC meeting

As noted here, the US Sentencing Commission has scheduled a public meeting for Wednesday, August 25, 2004 at 10:00 a.m. The USSC has detailed a full agenda for the meeting (which, notably, does not expressly mention any Blakely issues) and indicates that it expects “the public meeting will last approximately thirty minutes” (which, notably, is not much time to talk about Blakely issues).

Neverthless, I have to think the USSC’s discussion at this meeting must cover some Blakely ground. And, since this is a public meeting, I assume interested individuals could attend the meeting —which is to be held at the Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building, One Columbus Circle, N.E., in Washington DC — to hear about the USSC’s work and plans. Insightfully, a lawyer has written to me to suggest that this meeting presents “an opportunity for concerned members of the legal community to show up and put pressure on the commission to use the current climate to start to rethink sentencing … and [to] start calling for responsible, pro-active, action. Nothing like a room full of people to have more impact than even the most impressive letter.”

On this front, I have heard rumors that the USSC is working hard on proposals for federal sentencing reform if (when?) the Supreme Court declares some or all of the federal guidelines unconstitutional. Though the USSC should make public its plans and efforts so that this critical body can have a more central role in the on-going debates over the future of federal sentencing (background here), I was happy to hear that the USSC is at least actively thinking through a “plan B.”