Opinion ID: 18
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Increased Punishment.

Text: The appellant's last argument implicates his sentence. In the course of the proceedings, the government filed an information pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 851(a), proffering two prior felony drug convictions as a stepping stone for increased punishment should the appellant be found guilty. After the jury verdict, the district court, in reliance on this filing, deemed the appellant subject to increased punishment. See id. § 851(d). The court thereupon imposed a life sentence, which included the increase. See id. § 841(b)(1)(A). The appellant contends that these rulings were erroneous in various respects. Specifically, he contends that section 851(e)which forecloses a defendant from challenging the validity of prior convictions entered more than five years before the date of the government's section 851(a) filingoffends the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the federal Constitution and should not have been enforced. He adds that the statute also transgresses the rule of Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 490, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000). Finally he contends that the filing of a section 851(a) information in this case constituted impermissible prosecutorial vindictiveness. Here, however, there is a rub. The appellant acknowledges that, in these respects, the district court acted in strict conformity with circuit precedent. See Appellant's Br. at 34-36. By like token, he acknowledges that the contentions that he mounts can prevail only if we overrule a number of this court's precedents. See, e.g., United States v. Jenkins, 537 F.3d 1, 5 (1st Cir.2008); United States v. Henderson, 320 F.3d 92, 104-10 (1st Cir. 2003). This proposition that we can overrule our own precedents at will is untenable. With only narrow exceptions, none of which pertain here, [6] an argument panel is bound by prior panel decisions of the court. See United States v. Rodríguez, 527 F.3d 221, 224-25 (1st Cir.2008) (As a general rule, newly constituted panels in a multi-panel circuit are bound by prior panel decisions closely on point.); United States v. Wogan, 938 F.2d 1446, 1449 (1st Cir.1991) (same). Because we lack authority to overrule the precedents that the appellant targets, we reject this claim of error without inquiry into its merits.