Free Republic

The Justice Department is ordering federal prosecutors here and elsewhere to report federal judges who impose lighter sentences than recommended — which a leading Minnesota jurist and other critics say will have a devastating impact on judicial independence. "This will have a chilling and intimidating effect on judges, and this is why I no longer draw criminal cases,'' said Paul Magnuson, a senior federal trial judge in Minnesota who now handles mostly civil cases. "I predict that the number of departures by federal judges from sentencing mandates will fall to virtually zero.'' The July 28 memo from Attorney General John...

<p>WASHINGTON — Attorney General John Ashcroft (search) wants prosecutors to closely monitor which judges impose more lenient sentences than federal guidelines recommend, a step some critics say could limit judicial independence.</p> <p>Ashcroft directed U.S. attorneys nationwide to promptly report to Justice Department headquarters when a sentence is a "downward departure" from guidelines and not part of a plea agreement in exchange for cooperation.</p>

<p>Stepping up the Justice Department's battle with federal judges over sentencing guidelines, Attorney General John Ashcroft has directed government lawyers to report on judges who give out softer sentences and to start appealing those sentences in far higher numbers.</p> <p>The move, circulated in an internal memo last week, was anticipated under a measure known as the Feeney amendment, adopted by Congress in April to strengthen judges' adherence to new, stricter sentencing guidelines. Many judges, including U.S. Chief Justice William Rehnquist, view the new rules as a further attack on their independence.</p>

Judiciary panel OKs appeals court choice Partisan `hackles' lacking at hearing WASHINGTON -- The Senate Judiciary Committee, serious and humorous by turns, approved Michael Chertoff's nomination to an appeals court Thursday after a late allegation and debate that ranged all the way to a disgraced New York Times reporter and McCarthyism. On the good-natured side, a smiling Sen. Charles Schumer D-N.Y., said across the committee table at one point to Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, "Lucky for you there aren't two of me." Hatch, the committee chairman who is as conservative as Schumer is liberal, smiled back as he , "It's...