When The Judges Keep Quitting, Someone Needs to Listen

An article in today's Pittsburgh Tribune-Review contains a scathing attack on the United States Sentencing Guidelines. Robert Cindrich stepped down from the federal bench, party because he was tired of dealing with the guidelines. Cindrich argues that the guidelines turn federal judges into figureheads when it comes to sentencing decisions. "We have been sidelined," he said. "Make no mistake about it." The real tragedy is the Cindrich is not the first federal judge to retire rather than continue to practice under the weight of the guidelines.

How many disgusted judges will it take for Congress to realize that the USSG are a failed experiment that need to be, at the very least, radically overhauled.