More on Hammoud and other Blakely news

With the help of a business center at the DC Convention Center, I am pleased to be able to get a "blogging fix" before heading to this exciting event. (As if it was not already obvious, I am clearly addicted to this medium, though I blame Blakely (or perhaps just Justice Scalia) for turning me into such a junkie.)

I had a chance to re-read the Fourth Circuit's decision in Hammoud in transit today, and another review of all the brilliant features of the all the judges' fascinating opinions has my mind racing with so many additional thoughts --- e.g., (1) all of the Blakely bickering perhaps is (or at least should be) really a debate over the requirements of the Due Process Clause at sentencing; (2) it seems defendant Hammoud received an extra 150 years' imprisonment based on the testimony of a single questionable witness who was, according to Judge Gregory, "described throughout the trial as untrustworthy, manipulative, a liar and an exaggerator"; (3) it is really fun to watch smart and sassy judges trade smart and sassy rhetoric in footnotes (compare Wilkinson concurring at fn. * with Motz dissenting at fn. 4). Perhaps I will get a chance (much) later tonight upon my return home to add more words on these and related topics.

In the meantime, Howard Bashman of How Appealing here has some of the daily Blakely news stories, and Jason Hernandez of the Blakely Blog here returns to his helpful daily round-up of Blakely developments. In addition, Jason has here a trenchant analysis of the SCOTUS amici brief filed by three Senators in Booker and Fanfan, which I discussed at length here.