No news is good news?

I am intrigued, and somewhat pleasantly surprised, about how calm everything seems in the post-Booker federal sentencing world.  Is it possible that Justice Breyer in fact, as Ron Wright and I speculated here, produced a stable outcome with his Booker remedial opinion?  As noted before, we are seeing some tough sentences from the district courts (details here and here), and I wonder if that may be impacting the reactions of other actors and institutions.

I recall that, after Blakely, it took less than two weeks for the Senate Judiciary Committee to convene a hearing to address “Blakely v. Washington and the Future of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.” (Notice here, highlights here and here).   Though I have heard rumors about activity on the Hill, I have not heard anything to suggest hearings are imminent.

Of course, I know that the US Sentencing Commission had an important meeting yesterday, and I am hopeful that we will hear more from that important inside-the-Beltway player before long.  Also, I assume once Alberto Gonzales is confirmed to be AG we are likely to hear more from the all-important Justice Department.  (More on these fronts here.) 

Moreover, it is certainly possible that, here in the ivory tower far outside the Beltway, I am just unaware of all the post-Booker activity in the works.   Though this might be a calm before a coming storm, I am closing another work week again amazed by how dynamic and unpredictable the world of sentencing can be.