U.S. Files to Head Off Sanctions For Failure to Meet Deadlines: Lyle Denniston reported at SCOTUSblog that the U.S. has filed a reply motion for partial and temporary relief from the Guantanamo district court's July 11 scheduling order. In its reply motion, the government argued that if it is forced to comply with the court's deadlines it will be forced to chose between two evils: release of detainees or the loss of control of national secrets. The government has conceded that it has not been able to meet the imposed deadlines, but has asked the court to relax the deadlines so it can catch up. Last week, counsel for the detainees argued that the government has added a layer of review of secrets that is not necessary, that the government will only respect deadlines if it is punished for missing them, and that the government has done much less than it could to produce its reasons for holding detainees. According to Denniston, counsel requested step-by-step, increasing level sanctions for the government's delay. The Justice Department fought back yesterday, arguing in its motion that detainees' counsel is is seeking “to force the Government to choose between its duty to present, consistent with the currently governing legal landscape, the most appropriate case to ensure that those held as enemy combatants do not return to the fight and its duty to protect classified intelligence (and the assets used to acquire that intelligence) from improper disclosure that would endanger national security interests.” Denniston reports that the judge overseeing the detainee habeas cases has not yet given a timetable for acting on the delay issue.

Use of Heller and The Second Amendment to Reduce A Mandatory Federal Sentence: Yesterday, Doug Berman at Sentencing Law and Policy provided a post on his motion for partial summary judgment to partially vacate the 55 year mandatory sentencing term of Weldon Angelos. Apparently, Angelos received this 55 year sentence because of gun possession linked to three small hand-to-hand marijuana sales in a public parking lot. The motion for partial summary judgment is the follow up to a "lengthy 2255 motion" Berman helped author in 2007. In his post, Berman states he does not plan to discuss the merits of the case. However, that does not mean other bloggers will refrain from commenting. Today, over at the Volokh Conspiracy Paul Cassell provides a quick summary of Berman's post, and then notes "Professor Berman is trying to get me reversed here. I was the federal district court judge who, very reluctantly, had to impose the 55 year sentence."

Dallas County DA Seeking Review of Pending Capital Cases: Sentencing Law and Policy also provided a link to this story in today's Dallas Morning News. Apparently, Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins is concerned that innocent people have been imprisoned for faulty prosecutions. He would "re-examine nearly 40 death penalty convictions and would seek to halt executions, if necessary, to give the reviews time to proceed. " According to the story, Watkins became concerned by problems exposed by 19 DNA-based exonerations in Dallas County. Watkins claims a number of convictions were based on faulty eyewitness testimony and, in a few cases, prosecutorial misconduct. Former Dallas County prosecutor, Toby Shook, told The Dallas Morning News "Mr. Watkins was imposing an unnecessary new level of review and a hardship on victims' families."