Report on USSC public hearing

A helpful reader who attended yesterday's US Sentencing Commission hearing has sent me this informative (and discouraging?) report:

Most of the proposed amendments are reactions to legislation (though not always to Congressional directives).  On crack, the Commissioners merely invited more comment without giving a clue as to what they have in mind in the way of Commission action....  Also of note are requests for further comment on the circumstances in which a motion from the Bureau of Prisons for reduced sentence are appropriate as well as possible changes to criminal history -- the treatment of so-called minor offenses and related cases.

The votes were unanimous to publish all of the proposed amendments and requests for comment, with a 60-day comment period.  There was no debate or discussion, which I believe is par for the course.

I have not had a chance to look carefully at the other proposals and requests for comment. I am told that the immigration package is largely identical to what they put out -- and then tabled -- last year. Notably absent is any proposal to make various updates to the Manual to recognize the impact of Booker on federal sentencing, despite the frequent recommendation that they make these changes to bring the Manual into the post-Booker world.