Jan. 1 (Bloomberg) -- William H. Rehnquist, chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, said Congress should have considered the views of federal judges before setting limits on their authority to impose sentences and grant leniency.

``The traditional interchange between the Congress and the judiciary broke down'' in the enactment of a law signed by President George W. Bush in April, Rehnquist said in his annual year-end message.

The law puts new restraints on the ability of federal judges to impose lighter prison terms than sentencing rules ordinarily allow. Rehnquist also questioned a ``troubling'' provision that requires monitoring of lenient sentences, which he said ``could appear to be an unwarranted and ill-considered effort to intimidate individual judges.''

In September, Attorney General John Ashcroft ordered federal prosecutors to seek the toughest possible charges and sentences in criminal cases. He said too many criminals were back on the streets because judges ``exploited loopholes'' in sentencing guidelines. The debate over judicial discretion and leniency often has focused on cases involving illegal drugs and immigration.

Representative Tom Feeney, a self-described critic of ``judicial over-activism'' and sponsor of the sentencing provision, said judges have been departing from sentencing guidelines on an ``arbitrary and ad hoc basis.''

Call for Repeal

``Far from being an effort to intimidate, my intent is to try to bring some accounting and openness,'' the Florida Republican said in an interview. ``Some judges are ignoring the guidelines and undermining all sense of fairness and uniformity in applying federal sentences to the same federal crime.''

The U.S. Judicial Conference, the federal courts' policy- making body headed by Rehnquist, called on Congress in September to repeal the sentencing provisions of the new law.

Members of Congress should consult the judiciary for ``a perspective they may not have been aware of,'' Rehnquist said in his year-end statement distributed to the press.

``It surely improves the legislative process at least to ask the judiciary its views on such a significant piece of legislation,'' Rehnquist said.

The judiciary was consulted, House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican, said in a statement responding to Rehnquist. Congress held hearings on the subject, lawmakers heard from many federal judges and a House- Senate conference committee considered a letter from the chief justice on the matter, Sensenbrenner said. ``This disagreement resulted from a policy dispute between Congress and the judiciary and did not result from any breakdown in communication between the branches,'' he said.

Leniency Requests

The chief justice said the U.S. Sentencing Commission, which sets the guidelines followed by federal judges, reported that the share of cases in which judges granted leniency rose from 5.8 percent in fiscal 1991 to 18.1 percent in fiscal 2001.

Still, he said, the government sought 40 percent of the leniencies allowed in 2001. Without those requests, the rate of lighter sentences would have been about 10.9 percent, Rehnquist said. Prosecutors often seek lighter sentences for cooperating defendants.

The chief justice also used his year-end message to discuss the war in Iraq. ``The year just passed stands out by reason of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq that began in March,'' Rehnquist said.

``We have all been touched by the fighting in Iraq, and having several employees of the Supreme Court called to serve in the military brought it closer to home,'' the chief justice said. ``My condolences go out to those who have been injured, and to their families and the families of those who have been killed.''

Last Updated: January 1, 2004 00:04 EST