Source: http://supreme.nolo.com/us/523/224/case.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 09:01:17+00:00

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Title 8 U. S. C. § 1326(a) makes it a crime for a deported alien to return to the United States without special permission and authorizes a maximum prison term of two years. In 1988, Congress added subsection (b)(2), which authorizes a maximum prison term of 20 years for "any alien described" in subsection (a), if the initial "deportation was subsequent to a conviction for commission of an aggravated felony." Petitioner pleaded guilty to violating § 1326, admitting that he had been deported, that he had unlawfully returned, and that the earlier deportation had taken place pursuant to three convictions for aggravated felonies. The District Court sentenced him under the applicable Sentencing Guideline range to 85 months' imprisonment, rejecting his argument that, since his indictment failed to mention his aggravated felony convictions, the court could not sentence him to more than the maximum imprisonment authorized by § 1326(a). The Fifth Circuit also rejected his argument, holding that subsection (b)(2) is a penalty provision which simply permits the imposition of a higher sentence when the unlawfully returning alien also has a record of prior convictions.
Held: Subsection (b)(2) is a penalty provision, which simply authorizes an enhanced sentence. Since it does not create a separate crime, the Government is not required to charge the fact of an earlier conviction in the indictment. Pp. 228-248.
(a) An indictment must set forth each element of the crime that it charges, Hamling v. United States, 418 U. S. 87, 117, but it need not set forth factors relevant only to the sentencing of an offender found guilty of the charged crime. Within limits, see McMillan v. Pennsylvania, 477 U. S. 79, 84-91, the question of which factors are which is normally a matter for Congress. See Staples v. United States, 511 U. S. 600, 604. Pp. 228-229.
the beginning of subsection (b) have a meaning that is neither obscure nor pointless if subsection (b) is interpreted to provide additional penalties, but not if it is intended to set forth substantive crimes. Moreover, the circumstances of subsection (b)'s adoption support this reading of the statutory text. The title of the 1988 amendment-"Criminal penalties for reentry of certain deported aliens," 102 Stat. 4471 (emphasis added)-also signals a provision that deals with penalties for a substantive crime, and it is reinforced by a legislative history that speaks only about the creation of new penalties. Finally, interpreting the subsection to create a separate offense risks unfairness, for the introduction at trial of evidence of a defendant's prior crimes risks significant prejudice. See, e. g., Spencer v. Texas, 385 U. S. 554, 560. Pp. 229-235.
(c) Additional arguments supporting a contrary interpretation-that the magnitude of the increase in the maximum authorized sentence shows a congressional intent to create a separate crime, that statutory language added after petitioner's conviction offers courts guidance on how to interpret subsection (b)(2), and that the doctrine of constitutional doubt requires this Court to interpret the subsection as setting forth a separate crime-are rejected. Pp.235-239.
(d) There is not sufficient support, in this Court's precedents or elsewhere, for petitioner's claim that the Constitution requires Congress to treat recidivism as an element of the offense irrespective of Congress' contrary intent. At most, In re Winship, 397 U. S. 358, 364; Mullaney v. Wilbur, 421 U. S. 684, 704; Patterson v. New York, 432 U. S. 197; and Specht v. Patterson, 386 U. S. 605, taken together, yield the broad proposition that sometimes the Constitution does require (though sometimes it does not require) the State to treat a sentencing factor as an element of the crime, but they offer no more support than that for petitioner's position. And a legislature's decision to treat recidivism, in particular, as a sentencing factor rather than an element of the crime does not exceed constitutional limits on the legislature's power to define the elements of an offense. McMillan v. Pennsylvania, supra, distinguished. Petitioner's additional arguments-that courts have a tradition of treating recidivism as an element of the related crime, and that this Court should simply adopt a rule that any significant increase in a statutory maximum sentence would trigger a constitutional "elements" requirement-are rejected. Pp.239-247.
(e) The Court expresses no view on whether some heightened standard of proof might apply to sentencing determinations bearing significantly on the severity of sentence. Cf. United States v. Watts, 519 U. S. 148, 156, and n. 2 (per curiam). Pp.247-248.
BREYER, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which REHNQUIST, C. J., and O'CONNOR, KENNEDY, and THOMAS, JJ., joined. SCALIA, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which STEVENS, SOUTER, and GINSBURG, JJ., joined, post, p. 248.
Peter Fleury argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the briefs was Timothy Crooks.
JUSTICE BREYER delivered the opinion of the Court. Subsection (a) of 8 U. S. C. § 1326 defines a crime. It forbids an alien who once was deported to return to the United States without special permission, and it authorizes a prison term of up to, but no more than, two years. Subsection (b)(2) of the same section authorizes a prison term of up to, but no more than, 20 years for "any alien described" in subsection (a), if the initial "deportation was subsequent to a conviction for commission of an aggravated felony." The question before us is whether this latter provision defines a separate crime or simply authorizes an enhanced penalty. If the former, i. e., if it constitutes a separate crime, then the Government must write an indictment that mentions the additional element, namely, a prior aggravated felony conviction. If the latter, i. e., if the provision simply authorizes an enhanced sentence when an offender also has an earlier conviction, then the indictment need not mention that fact, for the fact of an earlier conviction is not an element of the present crime.
* Stephen R. Sady and Barbara E. Bergman filed a brief for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as amicus curiae.
Government to charge the factor that it mentions, an earlier conviction, in the indictment.
In September 1995, a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging petitioner, Hugo Almendarez-Torres, with having been "found in the United States ... after being deported" without the "permission and consent of the Attorney General" in "violation of ... Section 1326." App. 3. In December 1995, Almendarez-Torres entered a plea of guilty. At a hearing, before the District Court accepted his plea, Almendarez-Torres admitted that he had been deported, that he had later unlawfully returned to the United States, and that the earlier deportation had taken place "pursuant to" three earlier "convictions" for aggravated felonies. Id., at 10-14.
In March 1996, the District Court held a sentencing hearing. Almendarez-Torres pointed out that an indictment must set forth all the elements of a crime. See Hamling v. United States, 418 U. S. 87, 117 (1974). He added that his indictment had not mentioned his earlier aggravated felony convictions. And he argued that, consequently, the court could not sentence him to more than two years imprisonment, the maximum authorized for an offender without an earlier conviction. The District Court rejected this argument. It found applicable a Sentencing Guideline range of 77 to 96 months, see United States Sentencing Commission, Guidelines Manual § 2L1.2; ch. 5, pt. A (sentencing table) (Nov. 1995) (USSG), and it imposed a sentence of 85 months' imprisonment. App. 17.
F. 2d 943, 945-947 (CA5 1993); see United States v. Forbes, 16 F.3d 1294, 1297-1300 (CA1 1994); United States v. DeLeon-Rodriguez, 70 F.3d 764, 765-767 (CA3 1995); United States v. Crawford, 18 F.3d 1173, 1176-1178 (CA4 1994); United States v. Munoz-Cerna, 47 F.3d 207, 210, n. 6 (CA7 1995); United States v. Haggerty, 85 F.3d 403, 404-405 (CA8 1996); United States v. Valdez, 103 F.3d 95, 97-98 (CAlO 1996); United States v. Palacios-Casquete, 55 F.3d 557, 559560 (CA111995); cf. United States v. Cole, 32 F.3d 16, 18-19 (CA2 1994) (reaching same result with respect to 8 U. S. C. § 1326(b)(1)). The Ninth Circuit, however, has reached the opposite conclusion. United States v. Gonzalez-Medina, 976 F. 2d 570, 572 (1992) (subsection (b)(2) constitutes separate crime). We granted certiorari to resolve this difference among the Circuits.
An indictment must set forth each element of the crime that it charges. Hamling v. United States, supra, at 117. But it need not set forth factors relevant only to the sentencing of an offender found guilty of the charged crime. Within limits, see McMillan v. Pennsylvania, 477 U. S. 79, 84-91 (1986), the question of which factors are which is normally a matter for Congress. See Staples v. United States, 511 U. S. 600, 604 (1994) (definition of a criminal offense entrusted to the legislature, "'particularly in the case of federal crimes, which are solely creatures of statute''') (quoting Liparota v. United States, 471 U. S. 419, 424 (1985)). We therefore look to the statute before us and ask what Congress intended. Did it intend the factor that the statute mentions, the prior aggravated felony conviction, to help define a separate crime? Or did it intend the presence of an earlier conviction as a sentencing factor, a factor that a sentencing court might use to increase punishment? In answering this question, we look to the statute's language, structure, subject matter, context, and history-factors that typically help courts determine a statute's objectives and thereby illuminate its text.
See, e. g., United States v. Wells, 519 U. S. 482, 490-492 (1997); Garrett v. United States, 471 U. S. 773, 779 (1985).
"§ 1326. Reentry of deported alien; criminal penalties for reentry of certain deported aliens.
"shall be fined under title 18, or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.
"(2) whose deportation was subsequent to a conviction for commission of an aggravated felony, such alien shall be fined under such title, imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both." 8 U. S. C. § 1326.
to the question presented-whether Congress intended subsection (b)(2) to set forth a sentencing factor or a separate crime-is reasonably clear.
At the outset, we note that the relevant statutory subject matter is recidivism. That subject matter-prior commission of a serious crime-is as typical a sentencing factor as one might imagine. See, e. g., USSG §§ 4A1.1, 4A1.2 (Nov. 1997) (requiring sentencing judge to consider an offender's prior record in every case); 28 U. S. C. § 994(h) (instructing Commission to write Guidelines that increase sentences dramatically for serious recidivists); 18 U. S. C. § 924(e) (Armed Career Criminal Act of 1984) (imposing significantly higher sentence for felon-in-possession violation by serious recidivists); 21 U. S. C. §§ 841(b)(1)(A)-(D) (same for drug distribution); United States Sentencing Commission, 1996 Sourcebook of Federal Sentencing Statistics 35, 49 (for year ending Sept. 30, 1996, 20.3% of all federal cases involved offenders with substantial criminal records (criminal history categories IV-VI); 44.2% of drug cases involved offenders with prior convictions). Perhaps reflecting this fact, the lower courts have almost uniformly interpreted statutes (that authorize higher sentences for recidivists) as setting forth sentencing factors, not as creating new crimes (at least where the conduct, in the absence of the recidivism, is independently unlawful). E. g., United States v. McGatha, 891 F.2d 1520, 1525 (CAll 1990) (18 U. S. C. § 924(e)); United States v. Arango-Montoya, 61 F.3d 1331, 1339 (CA7 1995) (21 U. S. C. § 841(b)); United States v. Jackson, 824 F.2d 21, 25, and n. 6 (CADC 1987). And we have found no statute that clearly makes recidivism an offense element in such circumstances. But cf. 18 U. S. C. § 922(g)(1) (prior felony conviction an element but conduct not otherwise unlawful).
States without appropriate permission, shall be fined or "imprisoned not more than 2 years." Subsection (b) says that "any alien described in" subsection (a), "whose deportation was subsequent to a conviction" for a minor, or for a major, crime, may be subject to a much longer prison term.
The statute includes the words "subject to subsection (b)" at the beginning of subsection (a), and the words "[n]otwithstanding subsection (a)" at the beginning of subsection (b). If Congress intended subsection (b) to set forth substantive crimes, in respect to which subsection (a) would define a lesser included offense, see Blockburger v. United States, 284 U. S. 299, 304 (1932), what are those words doing there? The dissent believes that the words mean that the substantive crime defined by "subsection (a) is inapplicable to an alien covered by subsection (b)," post, at 264, hence the words represent an effort to say that a defendant cannot be punished for both substantive crimes. But that is not what the words say. Nor has Congress ever (to our knowledge) used these or similar words anywhere else in the federal criminal code for such a purpose. See, e. g., 18 U. S. C. § 113 (aggravated and simple assault); §§ 1111, 1112 (murder and manslaughter); § 2113 (bank robbery and incidental crimes); §§ 2241, 2242 (aggravated and simple sexual abuse). And this should come as no surprise since, for at least 60 years, the federal courts have presumed that Congress does not intend for a defendant to be cumulatively punished for two crimes where one crime is a lesser included offense of the other. See Whalen v. United States, 445 U. S. 684, 691-693 (1980); Blockburger, supra.
ject to" subsection (b)'s different penalties (where the alien is also a felon or aggravated felon). And (b)'s higher maximum penalties may apply to an offender who violates (a) "notwithstanding" the fact that (a) sets forth a lesser penalty for one who has committed the same substantive crime. Nor is it pointless to specify that (b)'s punishments, not (a)'s punishment, apply whenever an offender commits (a)'s offense in a manner set forth by (b).
"shall be guilty of a felony, and upon conviction thereof, be punished by imprisonment of not more than two years, or by a fine of not more than $1,000, or both.
"(2) whose deportation was subsequent to a conviction for commission of an aggravated felony, such alien shall be fined under such title, imprisoned not more than 15 years, or both." 8 U. S. C. § 1326 (1988 ed.) (emphasis added).
Thus, at the time of the amendment, the operative language of subsection (a)'s ordinary reentering-alien provision said that a reentering alien "shall be guilty of a felony, and upon conviction thereof, be punished by imprisonment of not more than two years, or by a fine of not more than $1,000." The 1988 amendment, subsection (b), by way of contrast, referred only to punishment-an increased punishment for the felon, or the aggravated felon, whom subsection (a) has "described." Although one could read the language, "any alien described in [subsection (a)]," standing alone, as importing subsection (a)'s elements into new offenses defined in subsection (b), that reading seems both unusual and awkward when taken in context, for the reasons just given. Linguistically speaking, it seems more likely that Congress simply meant to "describe" an alien who, in the words of the 1988 statute, was "guilty of a felony" defined in subsection (a) and "convict[ed] thereof."
neither the amendment's language, nor the legislative history of the 1990 Act, suggests that in this housekeeping measure, Congress intended to change, or to clarify, the fundamental relationship between the two subsections.
We also note that "the title of a statute and the heading of a section" are "tools available for the resolution of a doubt" about the meaning of a statute. Trainmen v. Baltimore & Ohio R. Co., 331 U. S. 519, 528-529 (1947); see also INS v. National Center for Immigrants' Rights, Inc., 502 U. S. 183, 189 (1991). The title of the 1988 amendment is "Criminal penalties for reentry of certain deported aliens." § 7345, 102 Stat. 4471 (emphasis added). A title that contains the word "penalties" more often, but certainly not always, see post, at 266-267, signals a provision that deals with penalties for a substantive crime.
In this instance the amendment's title does not reflect careless, or mistaken, drafting, for the title is reinforced by a legislative history that speaks about, and only about, the creation of new penalties. See S. 973, 100th Cong., 1st Sess. (1987), 133 Congo Rec. 8771 (1987) (original bill titled, "A bill to provide for additional criminal penalties for deported aliens who reenter the United States, and for other purposes"); 134 Congo Rec. 27429 (1988) (section-by-section analysis referring to Senate bill as increasing penalties for unlawful reentry); id., at 27445 (remarks of Sen. D' Amato) (law would "increas[e] current penalties for illegal reentry after deportation"); id., at 27462 (remarks of Sen. Chiles) (law would "impose stiff penalties" against deported aliens previously convicted of drug offenses); 133 Congo Rec. 2884028841 (1987) (remarks of Rep. Smith) (corresponding House bill creates three-tier penalty structure). The history, to our knowledge, contains no language at all that indicates Congress intended to create a new substantive crime.
prove to the jury that the defendant was previously deported "subsequent to a conviction for commission of an aggravated felony." As this Court has long recognized, the introduction of evidence of a defendant's prior crimes risks significant prejudice. See, e. g., Spencer v. Texas, 385 U. S. 554, 560 (1967) (evidence of prior crimes "is generally recognized to have potentiality for prejudice"). Even if a defendant's stipulation were to keep the name and details of the previous offense from the jury, see Old Chief v. United States, 519 U. S. 172, 178-179 (1997), jurors would still learn, from the indictment, the judge, or the prosecutor, that the defendant had committed an aggravated felony. And, as we said last Term, "there can be no question that evidence of the ... nature of the prior offense," here, that it was "aggravated" or serious, "carries a risk of unfair prejudice to the defendant." Id., at 185 (emphasis added). Like several lower courts, we do not believe, other things being equal, that Congress would have wanted to create this kind of unfairness in respect to facts that are almost never contested. See, e. g., United States v. Forbes, 16 F. 3d, at 1298-1300; United States v. Rumney, 867 F.2d 714, 718-719 (CAl1989); United States v. Brewer, 853 F.2d 1319, 1324-1325 (CA6 1988) (en bane); United States v. Jackson, 824 F. 2d, at 25-26; Government of Virgin Islands v. Castillo, 550 F.2d 850, 854 (CA3 1977).
In sum, we believe that Congress intended to set forth a sentencing factor in subsection (b)(2) and not a separate criminal offense.
set forth in other statutes that the lower courts have generally interpreted as providing for sentencing enhancements. Compare 8 U. S. C. § 1326 (1988 ed.) with 21 U. S. C. §§ 841(b)(1)(B) and (D) (distributing less than 50 kilograms of marijuana, maximum 5 years; distributing 100 or more kilograms of marijuana, 5 to 40 years), §§ 841(b)(1)(A) and (C) (distributing less than 100 grams of heroin, maximum 20 years; distributing 1 kilogram or more of heroin, maximum of life imprisonment), § 841(b)(1)(B) (distributing 500 grams or more of cocaine, 5 to 40 years; same, with prior drug felony conviction, 10 years to life); § 962 (doubling maximum term for second and subsequent violations of drug importation laws); 18 U. S. C. § 844 (using or carrying explosive device during commission of felony, maximum 10 years; subsequent offense, maximum 20 years); § 2241(c) (sexual abuse of children, maximum life; second offense, mandatory life); § 2320(a) (trafficking in counterfeit goods, maximum 10 years; subsequent offense, maximum 20 years). Congress later amended the statute, increasing the maximums to 10 and to 20 years, respectively. Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, §§ 130001(b)(1)(B) and (b)(2), 108 Stat. 2023. But nothing suggests that, in doing so, Congress intended to transform that statute's basic nature. And the later limits are close to the range suggested by other statutes regardless.
the word "offense" to refer to the subsection now before us. See IIRIRA, § 334, 110 Stat. 3009-635.
These later enacted laws, however, are beside the point.
They do not declare the meaning of earlier law. Cf. Federal Housing Administration v. Darlington, Inc., 358 U. S. 84, 90 (1958). They do not seek to clarify an earlier enacted general term. Cf. Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC, 395 U. S. 367, 380-381 (1969). They do not depend for their effectiveness upon clarification, or a change in the meaning of an earlier statute. Cf. Seatrain Shipbuilding Corp. v. Shell Oil Co., 444 U. S. 572, 595-596 (1980). They do not reflect any direct focus by Congress upon the meaning of the earlier enacted provisions. Cf. ibid.; Darlington, supra, at 86. Consequently, we do not find in them any forward looking legislative mandate, guidance, or direct suggestion about how courts should interpret the earlier provisions.
Regardless, it is not obvious that the two new subsections to which petitioner points create new crimes (a matter on which we express no view) nor, in adding them, did Congress do more than leave the legal question here at issue where it found it. The fact that Congress used a technical, crimesuggesting word-"offense"-eight years later in a different, and minor, statutory provision proves nothing-not least because it is more than offset by different words in the same later statute that suggest with greater force the exact opposite, namely, the precise interpretation of the relation of subsection (b) to subsection (a) that we adopt. See IIRIRA, § 321(c), 110 Stat. 3009-628 (stating that a new definition of "aggravated felony" applies "under" subsection (b) "only to violations" of subsection (a)).
States v. Jin Fuey Moy, 241 U. S. 394, 401 (1916) (citing United States ex rel. Attorney General v. Delaware & Hudson Co., 213 U. S. 366, 408 (1909)); see also Ashwander v. TVA, 297 U. S. 288, 348 (1936) (Brandeis, J., concurring). "This canon is followed out of respect for Congress, which we assume legislates in the light of constitutional limitations." Rust v. Sullivan, 500 U. S. 173, 191 (1991); see also FTC v. American Tobacco Co., 264 U. S. 298, 305-307 (1924). The doctrine seeks in part to minimize disagreement between the branches by preserving congressional enactments that might otherwise founder on constitutional objections. It is not designed to aggravate that friction by creating (through the power of precedent) statutes foreign to those Congress intended, simply through fear of a constitutional difficulty that, upon analysis, will evaporate. Thus, those who invoke the doctrine must believe that the alternative is a serious likelihood that the statute will be held unconstitutional. Only then will the doctrine serve its basic democratic function of maintaining a set of statutes that reflect, rather than distort, the policy choices that elected representatives have made. For similar reasons, the statute must be genuinely susceptible to two constructions after, and not before, its complexities are unraveled. Only then is the statutory construction that avoids the constitutional question a "fair" one.
not gravely doubt the statute's constitutionality in this respect is a crucial point. That is because the "constitutional doubt" doctrine does not apply mechanically whenever there arises a significant constitutional question the answer to which is not obvious. And precedent makes clear that the Court need not apply (for it has not always applied) the doctrine in circumstances similar to those here-where a constitutional question, while lacking an obvious answer, does not lead a majority gravely to doubt that the statute is constitutional. See, e. g., Rust, 500 U. S., at 190-191 (declining to apply doctrine although petitioner's constitutional claims not "without some force"); id., at 204-207 (Blackmun, J., dissenting); United States v. Monsanto, 491 U. S. 600, 611 (1989); id., at 636 (Blackmun, J., dissenting); United States v. Locke, 471 U. S. 84, 95 (1985); id., at 120 (STEVENS, J., dissenting).
Invoking several of the Court's precedents, petitioner claims that the Constitution requires Congress to treat recidivism as an element of the offense-irrespective of Congress' contrary intent. Moreover, petitioner says, that requirement carries with it three subsidiary requirements that the Constitution mandates in respect to ordinary, legislatively intended, elements of crimes. The indictment must state the "element." See, e. g., Hamling v. United States, 418 U. S., at 117. The Government must prove that "element" to a jury. See, e. g., Duncan v. Louisiana, 391 U. S. 145, 149 (1968). And the Government must prove the "element" beyond a reasonable doubt. See, e. g., Patterson v. New York, 432 U. S. 197, 210 (1977). We cannot find sufficient support, however, in our precedents or elsewhere, for petitioner's claim.
This Court has explicitly held that the Constitution's Due Process Clause "protects the accused against conviction except upon proof beyond a reasonable doubt of every fact necessary to constitute the crime with which he is charged."
In re Winship, 397 U. S. 358, 364 (1970). But Winship, the case in which the Court set forth this proposition of constitutionallaw, does not decide this case. It said that the Constitution entitles juveniles, like adults, to the benefit of proof beyond a reasonable doubt in respect to the elements of the crime. It did not consider whether, or when, the Constitution requires the Government to treat a particular fact as an element, i. e., as a "fact necessary to constitute the crime," even where the crime-defining statute does not do so.
Mullaney v. Wilbur, 421 U. S. 684 (1975), provides petitioner with stronger support. The Court there struck down a state homicide statute under which the State presumed that all homicides were committed with "malice," punishable by life imprisonment, unless the defendant proved that he had acted in the heat of passion. Id., at 688. The Court wrote that "if Winship were limited to those facts that constitute a crime as defined by state law, a State could undermine many of the interests that decision sought to protect" just by redefining "the elements that constitut[ed] different crimes, characterizing them as factors that bear solely on the extent of punishment." Id., at 698. It simultaneously held that the prosecution must establish "beyond a reasonable doubt" the nonexistence of "heat of passion" -the fact that, under the State's statutory scheme, distinguished a homicide punishable by a life sentence from a homicide punishable by a maximum of 20 years. Id., at 704. Read literally, this language, we concede, suggests that Congress cannot permit judges to increase a sentence in light of recidivism, or any other factor, not set forth in an indictment and proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.
thought," which was itself in turn "part of" the statute's definition of "homicide," the crime in question. Patterson, 432 U. S., at 215-216. (The Maine Supreme Court, in defining the crime, had said that "malice" was "presumed" unless "rebutted" by the defendant's showing of "heat of passion." Id., at 216.) The Court found this circumstance extremely important. It said that Mullaney had considered (and held "impermissible") the shifting of a burden of proof "with respect to a fact which the State deems so important that it must be either proved or presumed." 432 U. S., at 215 (emphasis added). And the Court then held that similar burden shifting was permissible with respect to New York's homicide-related sentencing factor "extreme emotional disturbance." Id., at 205-206. That factor was not a factor that the state statute had deemed "so important" in relation to the crime that it must be either "proved or presumed." Id., at 205-206,215.
The upshot is that Mullaney's language, if read literally, suggests that the Constitution requires that most, if not all, sentencing factors be treated as elements. But Patterson suggests the exact opposite, namely, that the Constitution requires scarcely any sentencing factors to be treated in that way. The cases, taken together, cannot significantly help petitioner, for the statute here involves a sentencing factorthe prior commission of an aggravated felony-that is neither "presumed" to be present, nor need be "proved" to be present, in order to prove the commission of the relevant crime. See 8 U. S. C. § 1326(a) (defining offense elements). Indeed, as we have said, it involves one of the most frequently found factors that affects sentencing-recidivism.
from the usual sentencing proceeding." McMillan v. Pennsylvania, 477 U. S., at 89. At most, petitioner might read all these cases, taken together, for the broad proposition that sometimes the Constitution does require (though sometimes it does not require) the State to treat a sentencing factor as an element. But we do not see how they can help petitioner more than that.
We turn then to the case upon which petitioner must primarily rely, McMillan v. Pennsylvania. The Court there considered a Pennsylvania statute that set forth a sentencing factor-"visibly possessing a firearm" -the presence of which required the judge to impose a minimum prison term of five years. The Court held that the Constitution did not require the State to treat the factor as an element of the crime. In so holding, the Court said that the State's "link[ing] the 'severity of punishment' to 'the presence or absence of an identified fact'" did not automatically make of that fact an "element." Id., at 84 (quoting Patterson v. New York, supra, at 214). It said, citing Patterson, that "the state legislature's definition of the elements of the offense is usually dispositive." 477 U. S., at 85. It said that it would not "define precisely the constitutional limits" of a legislature's power to define the elements of an offense. Id., at 86. And it held that, whatever those limits might be, the State had not exceeded them. Ibid. Petitioner must therefore concede that "firearm possession" (in respect to a mandatory minimum sentence) does not violate those limits. And he must argue that, nonetheless, "recidivism" (in respect to an authorized maximum) does violate those limits.
fine to a mandatory life sentence,'" 477 U. S., at 87 (quoting Mullaney, 421 U. S., at 700); (3) that the statute did not "alte[r] the maximum penalty for the crime" but "operates solely to limit the sentencing court's discretion in selecting a penalty within the range already available to it," 477 U. S., at 87-88; (4) that the statute did not "creat[e] a separate offense calling for a separate penalty," id., at 88; and (5) that the statute gave "no impression of having been tailored to permit the visible possession finding to be a tail which wags the dog of the substantive offense," but, to the contrary, "simply took one factor that has always been considered by sentencing courts to bear on punishment ... and dictated the precise weight to be given that factor," id., at 88, 89-90.
This case resembles McMillan in respect to most of these factors. But it is different in respect to the third factor, for it does "alte[r] the maximum penalty for the crime," id., at 87; and it also creates a wider range of appropriate punishments than did the statute in McMillan. We nonetheless conclude that these differences do not change the constitutional outcome for several basic reasons.
clusion followed, the Court said, from "the distinct nature of the issue," and the fact that recidivism "does not relate to the commission of the offense, but goes to the punishment only, and therefore ... may be subsequently decided." Id., at 629 (emphasis added). The Court has not deviated from this view. See Oyler v. Boles, 368 U. S. 448, 452 (1962) (due process does not require advance notice that trial for substantive offense will be followed by accusation that the defendant is a habitual offender); Parke, supra, at 27 ("[A] charge under a recidivism statute does not state a separate offense, but goes to punishment only"). And, as we said before, supra, at 230, Congress, reflecting this tradition, has never, to our knowledge, made a defendant's recidivism an element of an offense where the conduct proscribed is otherwise unlawful. See United States v. Jackson, 824 F.2d 21, 25, and n. 6 (CADC 1987) (opinion of R. Ginsburg, J.) (referring to fact that few, if any, federal statutes make "prior criminal convictions ... elements of another criminal offense to be proved before the jury"). Although these precedents do not foreclose petitioner's claim (because, for example, the state statute at issue in Graham and Oyler provided for a jury determination of disputed prior convictions), to hold that the Constitution requires that recidivism be deemed an "element" of petitioner's offense would mark an abrupt departure from a longstanding tradition of treating recidivism as "go[ing] to the punishment only." Graham, supra, at 629.
mum can, as JUSTICE STEVENS dissenting in McMillan pointed out, "mandate a minimum sentence of imprisonment more than twice as severe as the maximum the trial judge would otherwise have imposed." 477 U. S., at 95. It can eliminate a sentencing judge's discretion in its entirety. See, e. g., 18 U. S. C. § 2241(c) (authorizing maximum term of life imprisonment for sexual abuse of children; mandating life imprisonment for second offense). And it can produce unfairly disproportionate impacts on certain kinds of offenders. See United States Sentencing Commission, Mandatory Minimum Penalties in the Federal Criminal Justice System 26-34 (Aug. 1991) (discussing "tariff" and "cliff" effects of mandatory minimums). In sum, the risk of unfairness to a particular defendant is no less, and may well be greater, when a mandatory minimum sentence, rather than a permissive maximum sentence, is at issue.
Although McMillan pointed to a difference between mandatory minimums and higher authorized maximums, it neither "rested its judgment" on that difference, nor "rejected" the above analysis, as the dissent contends, post, at 254. Rather, McMillan said that the petitioners' argument in that case would have had "more superficial appeal" if the sentencing fact "exposed them to greater or additional punishment." 477 U. S., at 88 (emphasis added). For the reasons just given, and in light of the particular sentencing factor at issue in this case-recidivism-we should take McMillan's statement to mean no more than it said, and therefore not to make a determinative difference here.
(history of indeterminate sentencing). And the Sentencing Guidelines have recently sought to channel that discretion using "sentencing factors" which no one here claims that the Constitution thereby makes "elements" of a crime.
Finally, the remaining McMillan factors support the conclusion that Congress has the constitutional power to treat the feature before us-prior conviction of an aggravated felony-as a sentencing factor for this particular offense (illegal entry after deportation). The relevant statutory provisions do not change a pre-existing definition of a wellestablished crime, nor is there any more reason here, than in McMillan, to think Congress intended to "evade" the Constitution, either by "presuming" guilt or "restructuring" the elements of an offense. Cf. McMillan, supra, at 86-87, 89-90.
For these reasons, we cannot find in McMillan (a case holding that the Constitution permits a legislature to require a longer sentence for gun possession) significant support for the proposition that the Constitution forbids a legislature to authorize a longer sentence for recidivism.
736, 776-784, 921 P. 2d 514, 533-538 (1996) (upholding state recidivism law against federal constitutional challenge), with State v. Furth, 5 Wash. 2d 1, 11-19, 104 P. 2d 925, 930-933 (1940). And it nowhere (to our knowledge) rested upon a federal constitutional guarantee. See, e. g., Massey v. United States, supra, at 297 (applying federal law, noting jury determination of prior offense applied "unless the statute designates a different mode of procedure").
Petitioner also argues, in essence, that this Court should simply adopt a rule that any significant increase in a statutory maximum sentence would trigger a constitutional "elements" requirement. We have explained why we believe the Constitution, as interpreted in McMillan and earlier cases, does not impose that requirement. We add that such a rule would seem anomalous in light of existing case law that permits a judge, rather than a jury, to determine the existence of factors that can make a defendant eligible for the death penalty, a punishment far more severe than that faced by petitioner here. See Walton v. Arizona, 497 U. S. 639, 647 (1990) (rejecting capital defendant's argument that every finding of fact underlying death sentence must be made by a jury); Hildwin v. Florida, 490 U. S. 638, 640-641 (1989) (per curiam) (judge may impose death penalty based on his finding of aggravating factor because such factor is not element of offense to be determined by jury); Spaziano v. Florida, 468 U. S. 447, 465 (1984) (same). And we would also find it difficult to reconcile any such rule with our precedent holding that the sentencing-related circumstances of recidivism are not part of the definition of the offense for double jeopardy purposes. Graham, 224 U. S., at 623-624.
For these reasons, we reject petitioner's constitutional claim that his recidivism must be treated as an element of his offense.
sentencing, perhaps because he admitted his recidivism at the time he pleaded guilty and would therefore find it difficult to show that the standard of proof could have made a difference to his case. Accordingly, we express no view on whether some heightened standard of proof might apply to sentencing determinations that bear significantly on the severity of sentence. Cf. United States v. Watts, 519 U. S. 148, 156, and n. 2 (1997) (per curiam) (acknowledging, but not resolving, "divergence of opinion among the Circuits" as to proper standard for determining the existence of "relevant conduct" that would lead to an increase in sentence).
JUSTICE SCALIA, with whom JUSTICE STEVENS, JUSTICE SOUTER, and JUSTICE GINSBURG join, dissenting.
Because Hugo Roman Almendarez-Torres illegally reentered the United States after having been convicted of an aggravated felony, he was subject to a maximum possible sentence of 20 years' imprisonment. See 8 U. S. C. § 1326(b)(2). Had he not been convicted of that felony, he would have been subject to a maximum of only two years. See 8 U. S. C. § 1326(a). The Court today holds that § 1326(b)(2) does not set forth a separate offense, and that conviction of a prior felony is merely a sentencing enhancement for the offense set forth in § 1326(a). This causes the Court to confront the difficult question whether the Constitution requires a fact which substantially increases the maximum permissible punishment for a crime to be treated as an element of that crime-to be charged in the indictment, and found beyond a reasonable doubt by a jury. Until the Court said so, it was far from obvious that the answer to this question was no; on the basis of our prior law, in fact, the answer was considerably doubtful.
that unambiguously relieved the prosecution of the burden of proving a critical fact to the jury beyond a reasonable doubt. In McMillan v. Pennsylvania, 477 U. S. 79 (1986), the statute provided that" 'visibl[e] possess[ion] [of] a firearm'" "'shall not be an element of the crime,'" but shall be determined at sentencing by "'[t]he court ... by a preponderance of the evidence,'" id., at 81, n. 1 (quoting 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 9712 (1982)). In In re Winship, 397 U. S. 358 (1970), it provided that determinations of criminal action in juvenile cases "'must be based on a preponderance of the evidence,'" id., at 360 (quoting N. Y. Family Court Act § 744(b)). In Patterson v. New York, 432 U. S. 197 (1977), the statute provided that extreme emotional disturbance" 'is an affirmative defense,' " id., at 198, n. 2 (quoting N. Y. Penal Law § 125.25 (McKinney 1975)). And in Mullaney v. Wilbur, 421 U. S. 684 (1975), Maine's highest court had held that in murder cases malice aforethought was presumed and had to be negated by the defendant, id., at 689 (citing State v. Lafferty, 309 A. 2d 647 (1973)).
In contrast to the provisions involved in these cases, 8 U. S. C. § 1326 does not, on its face, place the constitutional issue before us: It does not say that subsection (b)(2) is merely a sentencing enhancement. The text of the statute supports, if it does not indeed demand, the conclusion that subsection (b)(2) is a separate offense that includes the violation described in subsection (a) but adds the additional element of prior felony conviction. I therefore do not reach the difficult constitutional issue in this case because I adopt, as I think our cases require, that reasonable interpretation of § 1326 which avoids the problem. Illegal reentry simpliciter (§ 1326(a)) and illegal reentry after conviction of an aggravated felony (§ 1326(b)(2)) are separate criminal offenses. Prior conviction of an aggravated felony being an element of the latter offense, it must be charged in the indictment. Since it was not, petitioner's sentence must be set aside.
1 The Court asserts that we have declined to apply the doctrine "in circumstances similar to those here-where a constitutional question, while lacking an obvious answer, does not lead a majority gravely to doubt that the statute is constitutional." Ante, at 239. The cases it cites, however, do not support this contention. In Rust v. Sullivan, 500 U. S. 173 (1991), the Court believed that "[t]here [was] no question but that the statutory prohibition ... [was] constitutional," id., at 192 (emphasis added). And in United States v. Locke, 471 U. S. 84 (1985), the Court found the doctrine inapplicable not because of lack of constitutional doubt, but because the statutory language did not permit an interpretation that would "avoid a constitutional question," id., at 96. Similarly, in United States v. Monsanto, 491 U. S. 600 (1989), "the language of [the statute was] plain and unambiguous," id., at 606.
That it is genuinely doubtful whether the Constitution permits a judge (rather than a jury) to determine by a mere preponderance of the evidence (rather than beyond a reasonable doubt) a fact that increases the maximum penalty to which a criminal defendant is subject is clear enough from our prior cases resolving questions on the margins of this one. In In re Winship, supra, we invalidated a New York statute under which the burden of proof in a juvenile delinquency proceeding was reduced to proof by a preponderance of the evidence. We held that "the Due Process Clause protects the accused against conviction except upon proof beyond a reasonable doubt of every fact necessary to constitute the crime with which he is charged," 397 U. S., at 364, and that the same protection extends to "a juvenile ... charged with an act which would constitute a crime if committed by an adult," id., at 359.
ent crimes, characterizing them as factors that bear solely on the extent of punishment." Id., at 697-698.
In Patterson v. New York, we cut back on some of the broader implications of Mullaney. Although that case contained, we acknowledged, "some language ... that ha[d] been understood as perhaps construing the Due Process Clause to require the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt any fact affecting 'the degree of criminal culpability,'" we denied that we "intend[ed] ... such far-reaching effect." 432 U. S., at 214-215, n. 15. Accordingly, we upheld in Patterson New York's law casting upon the defendant the burden of proving as an "affirmative defense" to seconddegree murder that he "'acted under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance for which there was a reasonable explanation or excuse,'" id., at 198-199, n. 2, which defense would reduce his crime to manslaughter. We explained that "[p]roof of the nonexistence of all affirmative defenses has never been constitutionally required," id., at 210, and that the State need not "prove beyond a reasonable doubt every fact, the existence or nonexistence of which it is willing to recognize as an exculpatory or mitigating circumstance affecting the degree of culpability or the severity of the punishment." Id., at 207. We cautioned, however, that while our decision might "seem to permit state legislatures to reallocate burdens of proof by labeling as affirmative defenses at least some elements of the crimes now defined in their statutes[,] ... there are obviously constitutional limits beyond which the States may not go in this regard." Id., at 210.
more than five years. We observed that "we [had] never attempted to define precisely the constitutional limits noted in Patterson, i. e., the extent to which due process forbids the reallocation or reduction of burdens of proof in criminal cases," but explained that, whatever those limits, Pennsylvania's law did not transgress them, id., at 86, primarily because it "neither alter[ed] the maximum penalty for the crime committed nor create[d] a separate offense calling for a separate penalty; it operate[d] solely to limit the sentencing court's discretion in selecting a penalty within the range already available to it without the special finding of visible possession of a firearm," id., at 87-88.
"Petitioners' claim that visible possession under the Pennsylvania statute is 'really' an element of the offenses for which they are being punished-that Pennsylvania has in effect defined a new set of upgraded felonies-would have at least more superficial appeal if a finding of visible possession exposed them to greater or additional punishment, cf. 18 U. S. C. § 2113(d) (providing separate and greater punishment for bank robberies accomplished through 'use of a dangerous weapon or device'), but it does not." Id., at 88.
to an indefinite term up to and including life imprisonment. 477 U. S., at 88.
Despite all of that, the Court would have us believe that the present statute's alteration of the maximum permissible sentence-which it acknowledges is "the major difference between this case and McMillan," ante, at 244-militates in favor of, rather than against, this statute's constitutionality, because an increase of the minimum sentence (rather than the permissible maximum) is more disadvantageous to the defendant. Ibid. That is certainly an arguable position (it was argued, as the Court has the temerity to note, by the dissent in McMillan). But it is a position which McMillan not only rejected, but upon the converse of which McMillan rested its judgment.
cussion in McMillan of how the Pennsylvania statute simply limited a sentencing judge's discretion. We said that, whereas in Mullaney the State had imposed "'a differential in sentencing ranging from a nominal fine to a mandatory life sentence'" (the Court's "second" factor), Pennsylvania's law "neither alter[ed] the maximum penalty for the crime committed [the Court's 'third' factor] nor create[d] a separate offense calling for a separate penalty [the Court's 'fourth' factor]; it operate[d] solely to limit the sentencing court's discretion in selecting a penalty within the range already available to it without the special finding of visible possession of a firearm [the Court's 'third' factor] .... The statute gives no impression of having been tailored to permit the visible possession finding to be a tail which wags the dog of the substantive offense [part of the Court's 'fifth' factor]." 477 U. S., at 87-88.
since the fact at issue increases the permissible sentence tenfold. And the only significant part of the fifth "factor"that the statute in McMillan" 'dictated the precise weight to be given [the statutory] factor,'" ante, at 243, quoting McMillan, supra, at 89-90-is likewise a point of difference and not of similarity.
2 It would not be, as the Court claims, "anomalous" to require jury trial for a factor increasing the maximum sentence, "in light of existing case law that permits a judge, rather than a jury, to determine the existence of factors that can make a defendant eligible for the death penalty .... " Ante, at 247, citing Walton v. Arizona, 497 U. S. 639 (1990); Hildwin v. Florida, 490 U. S. 638 (1989) (per curiam); and Spaziano v. Florida, 468 U. S. 447 (1984). Neither the cases cited, nor any other case, permits a judge to determine the existence of a factor which makes a crime a capital offense. What the cited cases hold is that, once a jury has found the defendant guilty of all the elements of an offense which carries as its maximum penalty the sentence of death, it may be left to the judge to decide whether that maximum penalty, rather than a lesser one, ought to be imposed-even where that decision is constrained by a statutory requirement that certain "aggravating factors" must exist. The person who is charged with actions that expose him to the death penalty has an absolute entitlement to jury trial on all the elements of the charge.
McMillan's statement [regarding the "superficial appeal" the defendant's argument would have had if the factor at issue increased his maximum sentence] to mean no more than it said, and therefore not to make a determinative difference here." Ante, at 245 (emphasis added). It is impossible to understand how McMillan could mean one thing in a later case where recidivism is at issue, and something else in a later case where some other sentencing factor is at issue. One might say, of course, that recidivism should be an exception to the general rule set forth in McMillan-but that more forthright characterization would display how doubtful the constitutional question is in light of our prior case law.
ing was that in the recidivism proceeding the defendant "was not held to answer for an offense," 224 U. S., at 624, since the recidivism charge" 'goes to the punishment only,'" ibid., quoting McDonald v. Massachusetts, 180 U. S. 311, 313 (1901).
625-626, 631; McDonald, supra, at 312-313. It has not allowed recidivism to be determined by a judge as more likely than not.
While I have given many arguments supporting the position that the Constitution requires the recidivism finding in this case to be made by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt, I do not endorse that position as necessarily correct. Indeed, that would defeat my whole purpose, which is to honor the practice of not deciding doubtful constitutional questions unnecessarily. What I have tried to establish-and all that I need to establish-is that on the basis of our jurisprudence to date, the answer to the constitutional question is not clear. It is the Court's burden, on the other hand, to establish that its constitutional answer shines forth clearly from our cases. That burden simply cannot be sustained. I think it beyond question that there was, until today's unnecessary resolution of the point, "serious doubt" whether the Constitution permits a defendant's sentencing exposure to be increased tenfold on the basis of a fact that is not charged, tried to a jury, and found beyond a reasonable doubt. If the Court wishes to abandon the doctrine of constitutional doubt, it should do so forthrightly, rather than by declaring certainty on a point that is clouded in doubt.
judge (whether or not bound by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines) is likely to sentence nearer the maximum permitted for the offense if the defendant is a repeat offender. But the same can be said of many, perhaps most, factors that are used to define aggravated offenses. For example, judges will "typically" sentence nearer the maximum that a statute allows if the crime of conviction is committed with a firearm, or in the course of another felony; but that in no way suggests that armed robbery and felony murder are sentencing enhancements rather than separate crimes.
It is interesting that the Court drags the red herring of recidivism through both parts of its opinion-the "constitutional doubt" part and the "statutory interpretation" part alike. As just discussed, logic demonstrates that the nature of that charge (the fact that it is a "typical" sentencing factor) has nothing to do with what this statute means. And as discussed earlier, the text and reasoning of McMillan, and of the cases McMillan distinguishes, provide no basis for saying that recidivism is exempt from the Court's clear acknowledgment that taking away from the jury facts that increase the maximum sentence is constitutionally questionable. One wonders what state courts, and lower federal courts, are supposed to do with today's mysterious utterances. Are they to pursue logic, and conclude that all ambiguous statutes adding punishment for factors accompanying the principal offense are mere enhancements, or are they illogically to give this special treatment only to recidivism? Are they to deem the reasoning of McMillan superseded for all cases, or does it remain an open and doubtful question, for all cases except those involving recidivism, whether statutory maximums can be increased without the benefit of jury trial? Whatever else one may say about today's opinion, there is no doubt that it has brought to this area of the law more confusion than clarification.
3 For federal statutes of this sort, see, e. g., 15 U. S. C. § 1264(a), 18 U. S. C. § 924(c), and § 2114(a). In each of these provisions, recidivism is recited in a list of sentence-increasing aggravators that include, for example, intent to defraud or mislead (15 U. S. C. § 1264(a)), use of a firearm that is a machine gun, or a destructive device, or that is equipped with a silencer (18 U. S. C. § 924(c)), and wounding or threatening life with a dangerous weapon (§ 2114(a)). It would do violence to the text to treat recidivism as a mere enhancement while treating the parallel provisions as aggravated offenses, which they obviously are.
victed. The author of today's opinion for the Court once agreed that the "language and structure" of this enactment "are subject to two plausible readings," one of them being that recidivism constitutes a separate offense. United States v. Forbes, 16 F.3d 1294, 1298 (CA1 1994) (opinion of Coffin, J., joined by Breyer, C. J.).4 This would surely be enough to satisfy the requirement expressed by Justice Holmes, see United States v. Jin Fuey Moy, 241 U. S. 394, 401 (1916), and approved by the Court, ante, at 237-238, that the constitutional-doubt-avoiding construction be "fairly possible." Today, however, the Court relegates statutory language and structure to merely two of five "factors" that "help courts determine a statute's objectives and thereby illuminate its text," ante, at 228.
"(a) Subject to subsection (b) of this section, any alien who [has been deported and thereafter reenters the United States] ... shall be fined under title 18, or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.
4 The statutory text at issue in Forbes was in all relevant respects identical to the statute before us here, except that the years of imprisonment for the offenses were less; they were increased by a 1994 amendment, see § 130001(b), 108 Stat. 2023.
shall be fined under such title, imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both." 8 U. S. C. § 1326(b).
One is struck at once by the parallel structure of subsections (a) and (b). Neither subsection says that the individual it describes "shall be guilty of a felony," and both subsections say that the individuals they describe "shall be fined under title 18, or imprisoned not more than [2, 10, or 20] years." If this suffices to define a substantive offense in subsection (a) (as all agree it does), it is hard to see why it would not define a substantive offense in each paragraph of subsection (b) as well. Cf., for example, 21 U. S. C. § 841, which has a subsection (a) entitled "Unlawful acts," and a subsection (b) entitled "Penalties."
5 The Court contends that treating subsection (b) as establishing substantive offenses renders the "notwithstanding" and "subject to" provisions redundant, because even without them our lesser included-offense jurisprudence would prevent a defendant from being convicted under both subsections (a) and (b). Ante, at 231. Redundancy, however, consists of the annoying practice of saying the same thing twice, not the sensible practice of saying once, with clarity and conciseness, what the law provides. The author of today's opinion once agreed that "[t]he fact that each subsection makes reference to the other is simply the logical way of indicating the relationship between the arguably two separate crimes." United States v. Forbes, 16 F.3d 1294, 1298 (CA1 1994). But if this be redundancy, it is redundancy that the Court's alternative reading does not cure-unless one believes that, without the "notwithstanding" and "subject to" language, our interpretive jurisprudence would permit the subsection (a) penalty to be added to the subsection (b) penalties.
6 Immediately after stressing the significance of the 1988 version of § 1326(a), the Court dismisses the 1990 amendment that eliminated the 1988 language upon which it relies, as a "housekeeping measure" by which "Congress [did not] inten[d] to change, or to clarify, the fundamental relationship between" subsections (a) and (b). Ante, at 234. The Court offers no support for this confident characterization, unless it is the mistaken assumption that statutory changes or clarifications unconfirmed by legislative history are inoperative. "Suffice it to say that legislative history need not confirm the details of changes in the law effected by statutory language before we will interpret that language according to its natural meaning." Morales v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 504 U. S. 374, 385, n.2 (1992).
the 1988 amendment kept the original title of § 1326 ("Reentry of Deported Alien") intact, leaving it to apply to both subsection (a) and subsection (b). See § 7345, supra; § 276, 66 Stat. 229.
The Court's fourth factor leading it to conclude that this statute cannot reasonably be construed as establishing substantive offenses is legislative history. See ante, at 234. It is, again, the legislative history of the provision as it existed in 1988, before subsection (a) was stripped of the language "shall be guilty of a felony," thereby making subsections (a) and (b) parallel. Even so, it is of no help to the Court's case. The stray statements that the Court culls from the Congressional Record prove only that the new subsection (b) was thought to increase penalties for unlawful reentry. But there is no dispute that it does that! The critical question is whether it does it by adding penalties to the subsection (a) offense, or by creating additional, more severely punished, offenses. That technical point is not alluded to in any of the remarks the Court recites.
opment and Housing Authority v. Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. of Va., 464 U. S. 30, 35 (1983); Morissette v. United States, 342 U. S. 246, 263 (1952). As noted earlier, the Court's hostility to jury determination of prior convictions is quite simply at odds with the manner in which recidivism laws have historically been treated in this country.
with knowledge of the prior crime is a serious problem. See, e. g., Spencer, 385 U. S., at 561 ("The defendants' interests [in keeping prejudicial prior convictions from the jury] are protected by limiting instructions and by the discretion residing with the trial judge to limit or forbid the admission of particularly prejudicial evidence even though admissible under an accepted rule of evidence" (citation omitted)); Old Chiefv. United States, 519 U. S. 172, 191 (1997) (it is an abuse of discretion under Federal Rule of Evidence 403 to disallow defendant's stipulation to prior felony convictions where such convictions are an element of the offense); cf. Brief for National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as Amicus Curiae 30 ("In 1996, 98.2% of all Section 1326 defendants pleaded guilty"). If it is a problem, however, there are legislative and even judicial means for dealing with it, short of what today's decision does: taking the matter away from the jury in all cases. See Note, 40 N. Y. U. L. Rev., at 333-334 (describing commonly used procedures under which defendant's right to a jury is invoked only "[i]f [he] denies the existence of prior convictions or stands mute"); Spencer, supra, at 567 (describing the English rule, under which the indictment alleges both the substantive offense and prior conviction, but the jury is not charged on the prior conviction until after it convicts the defendant of the substantive offense).
I emphasize (to conclude this part of the discussion) that "fairly possible" is all that needs to be established. The doctrine of constitutional doubt does not require that the problem-avoiding construction be the preferable one-the one the Court would adopt in any event. Such a standard would deprive the doctrine of all function. "Adopt the interpretation that avoids the constitutional doubt if that is the right one" produces precisely the same result as "adopt the right interpretation." Rather, the doctrine of constitutional doubt comes into play when the statute is "susceptible of" the problem-avoiding interpretation, Delaware & Hudson Co., 213 U. S., at 408-when that interpretation is reasonable, though not necessarily the best. I think it quite impossible to maintain that this standard is not met by the interpretation of subsection (b) which regards it as creating separate offenses.
7 The Court is incorrect in its contention that the effective-date provision of the 1996 amendments reflects the opposite congressional understanding. See ante, at 237. That provision states that the amendments "apply under [subsection (b)] ... only to violations of [subsection (a)]," occurring on or after the date of enactment. § 321(c), 110 Stat. 3009-628. There is no dispute, of course, that if subsection (b) creates separate offenses, one of the elements of the separate offenses is the lesser offense set forth in subsection (a). The quoted language is the clearest and simplest way of saying that that element of the subsection (b) offenses must have occurred after the date of enactment in order for the amendments to be applicable.
so that not much will have been achieved. That begs the question, of course, as to how the constitutional doubt will be resolved. Moreover, where the doctrine of constitutional doubt does not apply, the same result may be dictated by the rule of lenity, which would preserve rather than destroy the criminal defendant's right to jury findings beyond a reasonable doubt. See, e. g., People ex rel. Cosgriff v. Craig, 195 N. Y., at 197, 88 N. E., at 40 ("It is unnecessary in this case to decide how great punishment the legislature may constitutionally authorize Courts of Special Sessions to impose on a conviction without a common-law jury. It is sufficient to say that in cases of doubtful construction or of conflicting statutory provisions, that interpretation should be given which best protects the rights of a person charged with an offense, to a trial according to the common law"). Whichever doctrine is applied for the purpose, it seems to me a sound principle that whenever Congress wishes a fact to increase the maximum sentence without altering the substantive offense, it must make that intention unambiguously clear. Accordingly, I would find that § 1326(b)(2) establishes a separate offense, and would reverse the judgment below.

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