11th Circuit speaks on retroactivity

I have been off-line playing the DC tourist most of the day and now I am off to participate in a panel discussion sponsored by the Supreme Court Fellows Program concerning the impact of new technologies on how the media covers the Supreme Court (discussed previously here).  But as I dash out I see that from Appellate Law & Practice here that the 11th Circuit has ruled per curiam in Varela v. US, No. 04-11725 (11th Cir. Feb. 17, 2005) (available here) that Blakely and Booker are not retroactively applicable to cases on collateral review.  I hope to comment on this case, and other DC news and notes, later tonight.

UPDATE: The work of the Eleventh Circuit in Varela is both unsurprising and uninspiring.  As have most district courts in the wake of Blakely and Booker, the Varela court simply parrots parts of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Schriro concerning Ring‘s non-retroactivity to declare that Blakely and Booker are not retroactively applicable to cases on collateral review.  Unlike the Seventh Circuit’s more thorough and thoughtful effort in McReynolds (details here), the Eleventh Circuit in Varela does not grapple with or even acknowledge that Schriro only concerned judge/jury issues and did not consider the possible impact of key burden of proof issues on retroactivity.