Court Opinion

ID: 9497345
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 16:49:07.199358+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:58:08.505329
License: Public Domain

EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judge,
dissenting in part.
I join the court’s opinion and judgment to the extent that it affirms the convictions. I would affirm the sentences as well, for the reasons given in United States v. Booker, 375 F.3d 508 (7th Cir.2004) (dissenting opinion), cert. granted, No. 04-104, 2004 WL 1713654 (U.S. Aug. 2, 2004). Prudence counsels waiting to see what the Supreme Court says before re-sentencing, lest a re-resentencing lie in store. One question presented in Booker is what to do next if the statutory provisions requiring judges to resolve factual disputes that affect federal sentences should be held unconstitutional. Until the Supreme Court has spoken, not only what to do, but also how to do it, is uncertain. I trust that we will hold the mandate until Booker’s final resolution, and that the district judge will sit tight even if we let the mandate go earlier.
One comment on an issue implied rather than addressed in my colleagues’ opinion. In supplemental briefs filed after oral argument, the United States contended that the defendants had not adequately preserved an argument based on Blakely v. Washington, — U.S. -, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004), and that our review therefore is limited to a search for plain error. All three members of the panel disagree with that position. Both Dick-Messino and Clem Messino advanced in their opening briefs arguments based on Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 *715S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000), which led to Blakely and Booker. True, appellants did not develop these arguments at length in either the district court or their appellate briefs, but the law was so firmly against them that elaboration would have been pointless. When precedent is adverse, a few sentences flagging the point suffice to preserve an argument for resolution by a higher court. Thus the appropriate question (if Booker is correct) is whether the error was harmless, and if I were to indulge the assumption that Booker got it right I would agree with my colleagues that the error is not harmless.
Still, a claim must be advanced, if it is to be preserved, even when all precedent is contrary. See Bousley v. United States, 523 U.S. 614, 622-23, 118 S.Ct. 1604, 140 L.Ed.2d 828 (1998); Monsanto Co. v. Spray-Rite Service Corp., 465 U.S. 752, 761-62 n. 7, 104 S.Ct. 1464, 79 L.Ed.2d 775 (1984); Engle v. Isaac, 456 U.S. 107, 130 n. 35, 102 S.Ct. 1558, 71 L.Ed.2d 783 (1982). A point raised belatedly leads to relief only if the standards for plain-error review are met. We know from United States v. Cotton, 535 U.S. 625, 631-34, 122 S.Ct. 1781, 152 L.Ed.2d 860 (2002), that an Apprendi error does not justify reversal under the plain-error standard because it does not seriously affect the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings. Although Cotton said that the evidence in that case was overwhelming (which may or may not be true of the evidence that led to the Messinos’ sentences), it did not imply that any sentence based on a preponderance of the evidence must be vacated, and I see no good reason why it should. Cf. United States v. Knights, 534 U.S. 112, 117-18, 122 S.Ct. 587, 151 L.Ed.2d 497 (2001).
Judges, no less than jurors, resolve factual disputes accurately, and decision under the preponderance standard (the norm before Booker) is reliable. That’s why the Court held in Schriro v. Summerlin, — U.S. -, 124 S.Ct. 2519, 159 L.Ed.2d 442 (2004), that another of Apprendi’s sequels does not apply retroactively on collateral review. Although the plain-error standard differs formally from the standard for retroactive application, whether an error gravely undermines the reliability of the outcome is common to the two inquiries. Given Schriro and opinions such as United States v. Watts, 519 U.S. 148, 117 S.Ct. 633, 136 L.Ed.2d 554 (1997), we cannot say that judicial resolution of factual disputes on a preponderance is so mistake-prone that reversal is apt under the plain-error standard. It would be weird to hold that a sentencing process used since 1987 with the Supreme Court’s approbation (see, e.g., Edwards v. United States, 523 U.S. 511, 118 S.Ct. 1475, 140 L.Ed.2d 703 (1998)), plus the support of all federal circuits even after Apprendi, now must be deemed so unreliable that it undermines the fairness, integrity, and public reputation of judicial proceedings. Accord, United States v. Duncan, 381 F.3d 1070, 2004 WL 1838020, 2004 U.S.App. LEXIS 17250 (11th Cir. Aug. 18, 2004) (Guideline sentences based on facts found by judges ought not be set aside under the plain-error standard). Challenges raised initially after the district judge has imposed sentence therefore must fail even if the Supreme Court affirms in Booker; but, when Apprendi-based arguments have been properly preserved, relief is appropriate because a Booker error is not harmless.