More explication of the post-Booker world from the Circuits

As we approach the one-year anniversary of Booker, the realities of the post-Booker world continue to  be filled in by the circuit courts.  Last week brought notable decisions from many circuits, and this week is starting with a similar bang:

• The Fifth Circuit today, in US v. Alonzo, No. 05-20130 (5th Cir. Jan. 9, 2006) (available here), addresses the presumption of reasonableness of a guideline sentence.  The Fifth Circuit, in addition to providing an effective review of the work of other circuits in this area, concludes “that a sentence within a properly calculated Guideline range is presumptively reasonable,” but also “decline[s] to find a properly calculated Guidelines sentence reasonable per se.”

• The Seventh Circuit today, in US v. Brock, No. 03-2279 (7th Cir. Jan. 9, 2006) (available here), talks through a range of post-Booker sentencing and appeal issues in the course of rejecting an effort to have a sentence overturned after it was reaffirmed following a limited remand.