With Ken Newman starting soon as a new U.S. Magistrate Judge, the Sacramento magistrate judges are switching from monthly to two-week duty stints. 2010 Sac Mag Duty Calendar. With the addition of a 5th magistrate judge in Sacramento, Magistrate Judge Gregory G. Hollows has moved his courtroom from the 8th floor to courtroom 9 on the 13th floor.
The U.S. Sentencing Commission has issued this press release on its proposed amendments to the Sentencing Guidelines with public hearings scheduled in March 2010. Full text of proposed amendments are available at the Commission's website, www.ussc.gov
The Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office is combining its international drug trafficking and terrorism units. New York Times, 1/18/10
I expect the trend of conservatives and liberals joining on criminal justice issues to gain momentum in 2010, see my David Kennedy post, Washington Post, "Anti-Death Penalty Movement Wooing Conservatives", and Senate Committee's Passage of Crim Justice Compassion Act of 2009.
Finally, the Federal Evidence blog has a link to a handy pdf version of the 2010 Federal Rules of Evidence available here: Fed.R.Evid. PDF