Judge for Themselves

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It took an unusual coalition of five Justices, including conservatives like Antonin Scalia and liberals like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, to come up with the landmark ruling that the guidelines violated defendants' right to a jury trial. But when the Justices debated a remedy, Ginsburg flipped her vote. Instead of backing the Scalia camp's solution, which was to let jurors listen to and rule on all the factors previously reserved for judges, she sided with Justice Stephen Breyer and their three other colleagues, who argued that judges should consult the guidelines but use their discretion on a case-by-case basis. Appellate courts can then decide whether those sentences are "reasonable." With that kind of room for discretion sure to enrage conservatives, it's a safe bet that the dispute will soon return to the Supreme Court. By then, one or two new Justices, armed with their particular biases--and almost unchallenged autonomy--could change the rules again. --With reporting by Brian Bennett and Massimo Calabresi/ Washington and Kristina Dell/ New York