Opinion ID: 793135
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Shall Impose Language of Section 3553(f)

Text: 11 We had previously identified and explicitly left open the question of what effect the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005), has on the safety valve statute's requirement that a district court shall impose a sentence pursuant to the Guidelines if it finds the safety valve eligibility requirements met. See United States v. Crosby, 397 F.3d 103, 110 n. 8 (2d Cir.2005) (We note that Booker/Fanfan did not explicitly excise ... section 3553(f), concerning `safety-valve' relief,. . . which state[s] that courts `shall impose' sentences in accordance with Guidelines in certain circumstances. Because [this] provision[] is [not] implicated in the pending case, we do not consider what effect, if any, Booker/Fanfan has on [it].). In United States v. Selioutsky, 409 F.3d 114 (2d Cir.2005), we examined whether the Booker rationale required us to excise 18 U.S.C. § 3553(b)(2), which contains specific sentencing provisions applicable to child crimes and sexual offenses, see 18 U.S.C. § 3553(b)(2)(A) (In sentencing a defendant convicted of [certain child crimes and sexual offenses], the court shall impose a sentence of the kind, and within the range, referred to in [18 U.S.C. § 35531(a)(4).). We noted that this subsection was not considered in Booker because neither of the defendants were sentenced pursuant to § 3553(b)(2). See Selioutsky, 409 F.3d at 116. Reasoning that both § 3553(b)(1) and § 3553(b)(2) mandate use of the applicable Guidelines range and that the mandatory use of the Guidelines triggered constitutional objections in Booker, we therefore found it necessary to excise § 3553(b)(2) and thereby make the Guidelines advisory for the offenses described therein. See id. at 117. 12 Here, § 3553(f) provides that a sentencing court shall impose a sentence pursuant to guidelines promulgated by the United States Sentencing Commission ... without regard to any statutory minimum sentence, if the safety valve eligibility requirements are met. 18 U.S.C. § 3553(f). Therefore, § 3553(f) contains language similar to § 3553(b)(1) and § 3553(b)(2) in its requirement that a sentencing judge shall impose a sentence under the Guidelines. In the instant appeal, however, the District Court did not mandatorily impose a sentence under the Guidelines because it did not find the safety valve eligibility requirements met. Therefore, the instant appeal does not directly present the issue of the continued viability of this language. Nor does any party suggest that the viability of § 3553(f) as a whole depends on the viability of this language. Accordingly, for purposes of this appeal, we need not and will not determine whether the shall impose language of § 3553(f) need be excised or reconstrued. 13