Reports on Booker circuit action

The press and blogsphere have interesting Booker circuit reports this morning: the Ninth Circuit’s recent Ameline ruling (basics here, commentary here) is reviewed in this law.com articlereporting here “persistent rumors that the 3rd Circuit will be issuing a broad ruling ‘soon’ on Booker“; and this Bloomberg column provides a remarkable account of the Fifth Circuit oral argument in the appeal of Jamie Olis’ 24-year prison term, which the piece says “may be the longest ever for securities fraud.”

As we approach the one month mark since Booker was handed down, I continue to be intrigued (as previously discussed here) by the circuit contrasts in the pacing and process of Booker decision-making:

• We have still not heard an official Booker peep from four circuits: the First, Third, Fifth and DC.

• Four other circuits have been content with one major ruling, though these rulings have covered disparate topics: the Fourth in Hughes covered plain error; the Seventh in McReynolds raced to address retroactivity; the Ninth in Ameline covered plain error and additional procedural issues; the Tenth in Labastida-Segura addressed harmless error.

• The other four circuits have been Booker busy: the Second Circuit through Crosby has spoken broadly to many issues, and a few smaller opinions have filled out the circuit story; a half-dozen dizzying plain error rulings in the Sixth Circuit have made my head hurt; the Eighth has had a steady drum beat of smaller opinions on a range of issues; and the Eleventh in Rodriguez picked a plain error fight with other circuits after having decided some smaller issues soon after Booker.