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Dueling with Spears (aka digesting Spears)

By Douglas A. Berman

I remain surprised and excited that a majority of the Supreme Court thought it appropriate to use, as the Chief put it, "the bitter medicine of summary reversal" in Spears (opinion here) to reiterate for all circuit courts that they should not --- indeed, must not --- second-guess the work of sentencing courts if and when a district judge has provided a thoughtful explanation for her or his sentencing choices.  I am also pleased and excited that the Justices used such engaging words to talk up their differing assessments of whether a summary reversal was appropriate in this case. Specifically, Chief Justice Roberts ends his dissent in Spears with these fascinating assertions:  We should not rush to answer a novel question about the application of a one-year-old decision in the absence of a pronounced conflict among the circuits...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on January 21, 2009 (boomark / email).