Blakely/Booker backup

I continue to be curious about — and eager to see data concerning — how many federal sentencings have been delayed awaiting a decision in Booker and Fanfan.  More anecdotal evidence suggesting many postponements can be found today in stories from Tennessee and Texas involving delayed judicial proceedings for two white-collar offenders pending the ruling in Booker and Fanfan.  (A noteworthy previous example can be found here.)

At the US Sentencing Commission hearing last week, I was given the impression that a very large number of the roughly 30,000 federal sentences that should have been handed down since Blakely have been postponed.  But I still have no sense of whether this means 1/4 or 1/2 or even 3/4 of all sentencings have been put on hold (and thus, as noted here, I will be thrilled when the USSC is able to make public the preliminary data it has collected concerning the post-Blakely state of federal sentencing).

Whatever the exact number, it seems clear that, after Booker and Fanfan are decided, the lower federal courts will have a huge backlog of postponed cases to process.  It will be interesting to watch if the Blakely backup has broad ripple effects next year on the administration of justice in the federal courts.