STRAITJACKETS FOR JUDGES

Just when we should be reducing unfairness in the nation's criminal
justice system, Congress is moving in the opposite direction. Last
week, lawmakers approved provisions that will prevent federal judges
from using their discretion to give prison terms that are shorter than
those prescribed by federal sentencing guidelines. The changes were
tagged on to the Amber Alert bill that creates a national notification
system for child abductions.

The amendment will further confine the already sharply limited choices
federal judges now have in sentencing - a point that Senators Edward
Kennedy of Massachusetts and Patrick Leahy of Vermont underscored in
the course of their vain but valiant attempt to block the provisions.

Chief Justice William Rehnquist, hardly a coddler of criminals, warned
members of Congress that limiting judicial sentencing power along
these lines "would seriously impair the ability of courts to impose
just and responsible sentences." But egged on by the Bush Justice
Department, legislators refused to heed that advice, or even hold
hearings. Under the guise of protecting children, Congress has badly
undermined fairness and judicial independence. It has also upset the
balance between uniform sentencing and individualized punishment that
the system of sentencing guidelines was supposed to deliver.