An amazing load of hooey. Does Kim Strassel know the sentencing guidelines exist? Does she know what they’re for? Do her editors lack the gene that allows human beings to experience shame?
It’s not original to observe that media institutions like wsj use their megaphones and the credibility of their reporters to promote voices of profound ignorance like Kim Strassel. It just sucks and it might cost us the republic.
For those who don’t know, the federal sentencing guidelines are a formula—an elaborate one—intended to promote uniformity in sentencing across the country. The Stone prosecutors calculated the 7-9y using that formula and recommended the judge follow it.
Strassel might be interested to know—if she’s at all interested in knowing things—that at his confirmation hearing AG Barr said following the sentencing guidelines was a good thing, what ought to be done, a model for future reforms, etc. 
“I think we need to strive for as much uniformity as we can,” Barr said, praising nationwide adherence to the sentencing guidelines.
So does his intervention in Stone’s case call for sticking to the guidelines? Does it say the prosecutors did the math wrong? No, it does not.
So does his intervention in Stone’s case call for sticking to the guidelines? Does it say the prosecutors did the math wrong? No, it does not.
Far from striving for uniformity, following Barr’s intervention, DOJ said the court ought to *depart* from the guidelines sentence, even though the four prosecutors who withdrew had calculated it correctly.
Make an exception for Stone, DOJ argued. “Sure, he was convicted of physically threatening a witness by a jury of his peers, but hey it’s complicated and the witness isn’t too mad about it so why not be a pal and just forget that part?’ Literally, that’s the argument.
The Barr DOJ’s brief at least has the decency to mention the guidelines, acknowledge the 7-9y sentence they suggest, and argue for ignoring it, rather than baldly defaming the line prosecutors. Strassel and her editors could learn something from that. courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
