SCOTUS back to work with a dynamic sentencing docket

As detailed in this Washington Post piece, which is headlined "Supreme Court returns; firearms regulation and detainees on agenda," the Supreme Court Justices return today from their winter hibernation. And, in the baker's dozen of cases to be heard by the Court in the next few weeks, these particular cases should be of particular interesting to sentencing fans (links and descriptions thanks to SCOTUSwiki):

• United States v. O’Brien and Burgess (trial findings on a weapon that triggers a higher criminal sentence)

• Carr v. United States (Ex Post Facto Clause application to sex offender registration law)

• Skilling v. United States (constitutionality and scope of "honest services" fraud law; also, effect of pre-trial publicity)

• McDonald v. City of Chicago (incorporation of Second Amendment against the states)

Obviously, only the first two of these cases are "pure" sentencing issues, but I suspect lots of sentencing-related concerns could be impacted by expected rulings in the Skilling and McDonald.  Also, there are a number of other criminal justice cases being argued in this SCOTUS sitting on issues ranging from Miranda rights to habeas tolling.  And, perhaps as early as tomorrow, we might get some opinion in some of the big sentencing cases that were argued during the first half of this SCOTUS Term. 

Some recent related posts:

• The 10 biggest cases to watch for sentencing fans in the new SCOTUS term
• SCOTUS starts 2010 with lots of sentencing stories pending