Government pushing for around 3 years for Libby

As previewed here, the Libby sentencing story is now to start heating up with some tough government advocacy and guideline recommendations.  How Appealing has the basic media coverage here and TalkLeft and Firedoglake have good early analysis.  I'll post a lot more when I take it all in this weekend.  In the meantime, readers go at it.

UPDATE:  I have now had a chance to give the Government's intricate guideline calculation memo and its broader sentencing memo.  Both are amazing documents that suggest that Judge Walton will have a lot to sort through when sentencing Libby on June 5.  I surmise that Libby's lawyers are going to be asking for probation, that the government wants at least a 30-month prison sentence, and that the presentence report has suggested something in between these pretty wide extremes.

As I was reading both of the government's Libby sentencing filings, I could not help thinking about Victor Rita, whose 33-month sentence is currently pending before the US Supreme Court.  (I have previously stressed Libby-Rita parallels in posts here and here.)  For so many reasons, the context and import of Lewis Libby's perjury seems far, far, far worse than Victor Rita's perjury.  Though Rita's 33-month sentence may be reversed by the Supreme Court, it will be quite telling if Libby gets a sentencing term that is lower.