Reporting on Early Prison Release:  Today, at Sentencing Law and Policy, Doug Berman posts a link to John Gramlich's Stateline.org article detailing how different states are treating early prisoner release.  Gramlich's article focuses on an Oregon law that lets some of the state's inmates trim as much as 30% from their sentences through expanded "earned-time credits," which are awarded to prisoners who finish coursework, gain work experience or otherwise work to improve their lives behind bars.  The law has moved up release dates for about 3,500 prisoners, including 950 who have already been released.  Victims, prosecutors and Oregon's State Attorney General, John Kroger, all say that the law goes too far, and inmates should only be able to shave 15% off their sentences through credits.  Gramlich reports that last week, Oregon lawmakers suspended the earned-time program until 2011, and made changes to ensure that serious criminals no longer will be eligible for 30% sentence reductions when the program resumes.

President Obama Nominates Two for Federal Appellate Court:  At Blog of Legal Times, Mike Scarcella reports that the President has nominated Goodwin Liu and Judge Robert Chatigny for spots on the Ninth and Second Circuit.  Liu is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.  He also chairs the board of directors for the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (which Ed Whalen mentions in his Bench Memos post).  Jonathan H. Adler briefly discusses Liu's nomination at Volokh Conspiracy, and Ashby Jones offers some comments on Wall Street Journal's Law Blog.  Goodwin Liu's name has appeared on our blog before.  In 2005, Professor Liu co-authored a paper criticizing then-Federal Judge Alito's death penalty decisions.  Kent's response to his critique can be found here. 
   
Judge Robert Chatigny has served on the federal bench since 1994 and served as Chief Judge from 2003 to 2009.  The official announcement is here.