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How do you say Mistretta with a scottish brogue?

By Douglas A. Berman

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Mistretta, which declared that the basic institutional structure for the creation of the federal sentencing guidelines were constitutional.  And now, as detailed in this brief report, it appears that there is now a similar constitutional debate about sentencing guidelines in Scotland: Top judges are attacking "fundamentally unacceptable" Scottish Government plans for a new body to draw up guidelines on sentencing. The country's two most senior judges will tell MSPs the plans are unconstitutional and would undermine judicial independence. Additional details on this sentencing debate can be found in this BBC story.  (Now, if I can just figure out a way to get invited to Scotland to participate this important sentencing debate, ideally while playing at St...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on May 12, 2009 (boomark / email).