Updates on Booker hearings

Tomorrow at 10:30 am is the big oversight hearing in the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security entitled “United States v. Booker: One Year Later — Chaos or Status Quo?”. Subcommittee Chair Rep. Howard Coble (R-N.C.) has issued this news advisory which confirms the witness list I detailed in this post and reveals that testifying on behalf of DOJ will be William Mercer.

Today, the comments by House Judiciary Committee Chair James Sensenbrenner’s (detailed here and here) overshadowed the hearing held by the US Sentencing Commission.  The USSC just posted this agenda/witness list from the hearing, and I would be eager to hear a report from anyone in attendance. 

Back to the House heing, the US Courts has this press release about Judge Paul Cassell’s planned testimony on behalf of the Criminal Law Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States.  As the press release details:

Congress is being told there is “no need for … ‘Booker fix’ legislation” because federal judges’ practices in sending convicted criminals to prison remain much the same as they were before the Supreme Court’s 2005 decision that invalidated mandatory sentencing guidelines.

Judge Cassell’s full prepared written testimony (all glorious 80 pages) which fills out this point — and many other astute points — can be accessed at this link.  And when you’ve consumed Judge Cassell’s amazing effort, you can then also read the prepared written testimony of attorney James Felman, who kindly sent his text for me to post here: Download felman_testimony.pdf