What’s going on at DOJ?

I wondered in this post about when and how we will hear from the Justice Department concerning the Booker fix provisions of H.R. 1528 (basics here, commentary here and here and here).  But now that I see this news that Deputy US Attorney General James Comey, the No. 2 person at the Department, has resigned, I am wondering more broadly about what is going on at DOJ.

Orin Kerr notes here that Comey “was highly respected among the career lawyers at DOJ” and calls his departure “a loss for the Department.”  And Comey’s resignation comes on the heels of the recent transition of the head of DOJ’s Criminal Division (from Chris Wray to Alice Fisher, as detailed here). 

I am inclined to joke that all these developments are more fall-out from Blakely and Booker, though I am sure federal sentencing is only a small part of these stories.  Nevertheless, it raises questions about who is developing DOJ sentencing policies at a time when a lot of strategic choices need to be made by the Department.