Let's get ready to Booker rumble...

To follow up his fiery statement (discussed here) about the US Sentencing Commission's impressive (and massive) Booker report (details here and here), House Judiciary Committee Chair James Sensenbrenner has a press conference scheduled for 1:30pm today in Washington DC.  Details are in this news advisory issued yesterday, which includes this explanation:

[T]he United States Sentencing Commission released its Report on the Impact of United States v. Booker on Federal Sentencing. In 2003, Congress passed the PROTECT Act to address many of the sentencing problems [this] report shows have resurfaced since the Supreme Court threw out the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.  Given the problems found in the Sentencing Commission's report and Congress' interest in ensuring that federal judges are not giving lenient, below-guideline range sentences to pedophiles, child sex offenders, and child pornographers, legislation is likely and will be discussed at Wednesday's press conference.

I suspect every federal judge will be quite surprised to learn that in Booker "the Supreme Court threw out the Federal Sentencing Guidelines."  But no one should be surprise to see Sensenbrenner wasting no time in heating up "tough on crime" rhetoric.

Recent posts on USSC report and Thursday's House hearing:

• Sensenbrenner takes the gloves off ... will the judiciary fight back?
• Sentencing Commission releases Booker report!
• Initial reflections on the USSC Booker report
• Booker March madness set to begin with a hearing double-header
• Buzz about the House hearing on Booker

Recent posts on Booker fix issues:

• Bad Booker fix arising?
• FSR Issue 17.5: Is a Booker Fix Needed?
• Dead Booker walking?: an introduction
• Dead Booker walking?: incentives to cooperate
• Dead Booker walking?: disparity in theory and practice
• Dead Booker walking?: a "drift toward lesser sentences"

UPDATE: Gina Holland from the AP has this piece on the USSC's Booker report and Sensenbrenner's reaction.  The report includes this ominous line: "House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said that his committee would begin drafting a new system for sentencing people convicted in federal courts."