Opinion ID: 771452
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: standard of review

Text: 16 We review a district court's application of the Sentencing Guidelines as well as other questions of law de novo. See United States v. Napoli, 179 F.3d 1, 6 (2d Cir. 1999), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 1162, 145 L. Ed. 2d 1084, 120 S. Ct. 1176 (2000). A district court's factual findings made while applying the Sentencing Guidelines are reviewed for clear error. See id. Additionally, we review an order of restitution for abuse of discretion. See United States v. Stevens, 211 F.3d 1, 3 (2d Cir. 2000). 17 The appropriate standard of review is in dispute in this case. Grant argues that the district court's application of section 3664(k) involved an interpretation of law and thus should be subject to de novo review. The government argues that a clear error standard should apply because that is the standard that we employ when reviewing a district court's findings of fact in the sentencing context. Grant has the better argument on this issue. 18 Here, the district court decision is more akin to an application of a statutory provision than to a factual finding. Indeed, the district court did not so much find as a factual matter that Grant's economic circumstances had changed as it did hold as a legal matter that a court's evolving understanding of a defendant's static financial circumstances can amount to a material change sufficient to invoke the court's section 3664(k) authority. 19 Similarly, the abuse of discretion standard normally applied to orders of restitution appears inappropriate in this case. District courts issue orders of restitution pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 3663 after considering the amount of loss caused by the offense, the defendant's financial resources, the financial needs and earning ability of the defendant and the defendant's dependents, and such other factors as the court deems appropriate. See 18 U.S.C. 3663(a)(1)(B)(i). Perhaps because of the balancing of factors involved in issuing orders of restitution, we apply the extremely deferential abuse of discretion standard of review to such orders. United States v. Giwah, 84 F.3d 109, 114 (2d Cir. 1996). The district court's decision at issue in this case involved no such weighing of statutory factors. Rather, it involved the legal question of deciding what constitutes a material change in the defendant's economic circumstances under section 3664(k). Accordingly, we review the district court's decision de novo.