The Eighth Circuit and Judge Cassell at work

With many thanks to many friends of the blog, I have received two interesting orders this afternoon. The first comes from the Eighth Circuit, and its "Administrative Order Regarding Blakely Cases" provides more evidence of the on-going waiting game as Booker and Fanfan get briefed for the Supreme Court. (Details about the waiting game can be found here and here and here.)

The Eighth Circuit, which in late July and early August was the setting for Blakely fireworks as detailed here and here and here and here, has now made official through this order that it will not set a date for the rehearings en banc in Mooney and Pirani (links above) "until after the Supreme Court issues its decisions in Booker and Fanfan." The order, which can be downloaded here, also creates administrative procedures "[i]n order to assure consistency and timeliness in the processing of direct criminal appeals involving cases that may have issues potentially impacted by Blakely during the period of time until the Supreme Court of the United States issues its opinions in Booker and Fanfan."
Download 8th_cir_blakely_order.pdf

In addition, I also received today a copy of an order issued late last week by Judge Cassell in the Angelos mandatory minimums case (discussed here and here). In the order, which can be downloaded below, Judge Cassell provides some preliminary analysis on parole eligibility issues in federal law, and he asks for additional briefing from the government this week if the government disagrees with any of his analysis.
Download angelos_briefing_order.pdf