More snippets on Blakely‘s federal impact

As discussed at length here, there are lots of ways to view and assess the preliminary data about post-Blakely federal sentencings in July and August recently made available by the US Sentencing Commission in three pretty charts here.   And more empirical food for thought can be found in this brief article from The Third Branch, the official newsletter of the federal courts.  The article, which I assume is based on statistics collected by the Administrative Office of the Courts, explains:

Although it is impossible to predict a trend on just three months of data, it appears that during the post-Blakely period from June 24 to September 30, 2004, district and appellate courts are reporting civil, criminal, and appellate caseload data in which the impact of the Blakely decision can be identified. For example, motion to vacate sentence petitions in the district courts are up 80 percent compared to the same three-month period in 2003. Appellate proceedings not originating in the district courts also are up 30 percent. On the other hand, criminal sentences, pursuant to both guilty pleas and trials, declined in over half of the district courts.

The article is an interesting read even though it conflates a bit the Blakely story and a discussion of Oregon US District Judge Panner’s dramatic decision in US v. Detwiler (discussed here with commentary here), which declared the federal sentencing guidelines unconstitutional on separation of powers grounds due to the passage of the Feeney Amendment.  Most telling, the article highlights that, though “a Supreme Court opinion on the sentencing guidelines is expected this term, for attorneys, defendants, federal judges, and convicted offenders, a resolution in this debate can’t come soon enough.”