An inside-the-Beltway Booker analysis

An on-time flight and a hotel room available early gives me a little blogging time before heading over to this afternoon's US Sentencing Commission hearing.  I am pleased to see that the USSC now has a lot of the hearing witnesses' written testimony linked through this agenda page so even folks outside the Beltway can follow the action.

I hope to comment at length tonight about what transpires at today's USSC hearings, but first I have other items of interest to share.  Perhaps fittingly as I was in transit to DC, another government document about Booker arrived in my in-box: a research report entitled "Federal Sentencing Guidelines: Background, Legal Analysis, and Policy Options" authored by the Congressional Research Service of the The Library of Congress.  The short report, which can be downloaded below, provides a useful overview of Booker and the policy issues facing Congress.  The report is dated February 9, so I assume it was prepared in conjunction with last week's House hearing in Booker (highlights here).

Download crs_analysis_of_fsg_and_booker.pdf