All the sentencing discretion that’s fit to analyze

Effectively covering the Supreme Court’s work in Gall and Kimbrough, the New York Times has these two strong pieces:

• From Linda Greenhouse here, “Court Restores Sentencing Powers of Federal Judges”

• From Adam Liptak here, “Given the Latitude to Show Leniency, Judges May Not”

Both article astutely note that another big federal sentencing story may break Tuesday afternoon.  As Liptak’s piece explains:

Indeed, this week’s sentencing decision most likely to have the broadest short-term impact is not on the Supreme Court’s docket.  On Tuesday, the United States Sentencing Commission is set to decide whether more than 19,000 federal prisoners convicted on charges involving crack cocaine should be eligible for re-sentencing based on amendments to the guidelines that became effective last month. The amendments reduced the disparity between sentences for crack and powder cocaine.