Prepared Testimony: U.S. Sentencing Commission, before the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives, February 10, 2005 Available to Purchase

Chairman Coble, Ranking Member Scott, and Distinguished Members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me to testify today on behalf of the United States Sentencing Commission regarding the impact of the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Booker¹ on the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. After the Court’s decision in Blakely v. Washington,² the federal criminal justice system experienced a period of uncertainty regarding whether the Federal Sentencing Guidelines would remain valid.

The Sentencing Commission, in testimony before Congress and in its own amicus brief, vigorously asserted that the holding in Blakely did not apply to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. Although the Court ultimately extended Blakely to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the Booker decision resolved the uncertainty in a manner that leaves the Sentencing Reform Act intact with the exception of two excised provisions. The opinion maintains all of the Sentencing Commission’s statutory obligations under the Act....