Court Opinion

ID: 9484139
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 09:41:45.162477+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:50:02.517537
License: Public Domain

EDWARDS, Circuit Judge,
concurring: I concur in the judgment of the court, but write separately to highlight an issue of serious concern regarding the validity of policy statement 5K1.1.
The “policy statement” embodied in U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1 is purportedly authorized by 28 U.S.C. § 994(n) (1988), a statutory provision enacted by Congress as part of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986. The statute provides that
[t]he Commission shall assure that the guidelines reflect the general appropriateness of imposing a lower sentence than would otherwise be imposed, including a sentence that is lower than that established by statute as a minimum sentence, to take into account a defendant’s substantial assistance in the investigation or prosecution of another person who has committed an offense.
28 U.S.C. § 994(n) (codifying Pub.L. No. 99-570, § 1008, 100 Stat. 3207-7 (1986)) (emphasis added). The Commission has never promulgated a guideline pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 994(n) that addresses departures based on the defendant’s substantial assistance to law enforcement efforts. Rather, in response to this statutory mandate, the Sentencing Commission promulgated the afore-cited policy statement, which provides, in part, that “[ujpon motion of the government stating that the defendant has provided substantial assistance in the investigation or prosecution of another person who has committed an offense, the court may depart from the guidelines.” U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1, p.s. The appellant argues that the Commission’s promulgation of a policy statement, in the absence of a guideline addressing departures based on substantial assistance, violates the mandate of section 994(n) and renders policy statement 5K1.1 invalid.
The appellant’s argument rests on the distinction made in the statute between “guidelines” and “general policy statements.” In 28 U.S.C. § 994(a), Congress mandated that the Commission “shall pro*1318mulgate and distribute ... guidelines ... for use of a sentencing court in determining the sentence to be imposed in a criminal case,” and “general policy statements regarding application of the guidelines or any other aspect of sentencing or sentence implementation.” 28 U.S.C. § 994(a)(l)-(2) (emphasis added). Appellant argues that a straightforward reading of the statute reveals that guidelines and policy statements are quite distinct, for a policy statement presupposes — indeed, cannot exist apart from — a guideline that addresses the same subject. Based on this reading of section 994(a), appellant concludes that the Commission violated the clear mandate of section 994(n) because it promulgated a policy statement in lieu of a guideline, and because it promulgated a policy statement in the absence of a guideline addressing departures based on the defendant’s substantial assistance. The appellant’s reading of section 994(a) has much force, thus raising a serious question concerning the validity of policy statement 5K1.1.
In its brief and at oral argument, the Government asserted that the word “guidelines,” as used in section 994(n), generally refers to both guidelines and policy statements, and that the Commission has the discretion to determine which to promulgate even though section 994(n) makes explicit reference to “guidelines.” This reading of the statute is untenable because it assumes that there is no meaningful distinction between the words “guidelines” and “policy statements,” as used in the statute. The statute itself belies this assumption. Section 994(a) draws an unequivocal distinction between “guidelines,” 28 U.S.C. § 994(a)(1), and “general policy statements regarding application of the guidelines.” 28 U.S.C. § 994(a)(2) (emphasis added). Other sections of the statute make explicit reference to guidelines, general policy statements, or both. See, e.g., 28 U.S.C. § 994(a)(3) (referring specifically to “guidelines or general policy statements”); § 994(b)(1) (referring specifically to “the guidelines promulgated pursuant to subsection (a)(1)”); § 994(c) (referring specifically to “guidelines and policy statements”); § 994(v) (referring specifically to “general policy statements promulgated pursuant to subsection (a)(2)”). Thus the statute shows that Congress made deliberate use of the words “guidelines” and “policy statements.” Because section 994(n) specifically refers to guidelines, not to “guidelines or general policy statements,” one must assume that Congress meant what it said — that the Commission was required to promulgate guidelines addressing departures based on the defendant’s substantial assistance, and had the discretion to promulgate policy statements regarding the application of those guidelines.
The Government’s attempts to clarify its position at oral argument did nothing to bolster its claim that policy statement 5K1.1 is a valid exercise of the Commission’s authority under 28 U.S.C. § 994(n). If anything, the concessions that the Government made at oral argument exposed the weakness of its position. For example, the Government conceded that the Sentencing Commission could not have promulgated exclusively policy statements, with no guidelines, in response to its statutory mandate to “promulgate and distribute ... guidelines ... for use of a sentencing court in determining the sentence to be imposed in a criminal case.” 28 U.S.C. § 994(a)(1). Thus, the Government acknowledged that the Commission did not have discretion to choose whether to promulgate guidelines or policy statements under this section of the statute. Furthermore, the Government conceded that if the Sentencing Commission had only promulgated policy statement 5K1.1 in response to its general mandate to create a sentencing scheme, then policy statement 5K1.1, in the absence of any guidelines, would not be enforceable. The Government asserted, however, that if the Commission had promulgated 5K1.1 with a guideline addressing substantial assistance, then 5K1.1 and that guideline, even in the absence of all other guidelines, would be enforceable. Thus, the Government effectively conceded the appellant’s argument — i.e., that policy statement 5K1.1 is invalid, unless it is promulgated with a guideline that addresses departures *1319based on the defendant’s substantial assistance to which the policy statement refers.
Finally, the Government can take no comfort in Williams v. United States, — U.S.-, 112 S.Ct. 1112, 117 L.Ed.2d 341 (1992), which it cited for the general proposition that there is no meaningful distinction between guidelines and .policy statements for the purpose of implementing the mandate in section 994(n). The Court in Williams did not address whether a policy statement promulgated in the absence of a corresponding guideline is a valid exercise of the Commission’s authority. Rather, the Court apparently assumed that the policy statement at issue in Williams explained an applicable guideline. See id. — U.S. at -, 112 S.Ct. at 1119 (“Where, as here, a policy statement prohibits a district court from taking a specified action, the statement is an authoritative guide to the meaning of the applicable guideline.”) (emphasis added). By contrast, in this case there is no guideline applicable to the determination that a defendant has substantially assisted law enforcement efforts.
As a final matter, the precise issue raised by the appellant has never been addressed by this court. This court has twice held that the government motion requirement established by policy statement 5K1.1 is not inconsistent with its enabling statute, nor constitutionally infirm. United States v. Doe, 934 F.2d 353, 361 (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 112 S.Ct. 268, 116 L.Ed.2d 221 (1991); United States v. Ortez, 902 F.2d 61, 64 (D.C.Cir.1990) (plain error review). But this court has never considered'whether policy statement 5K1.1 is invalid because the Commission was required to promulgate a guideline under 28 U.S.C. § 994(n).
Nevertheless, this is not the appropriate case in which to address this question because, as the appellant conceded, his specific arguments were not raised below, and the sentencing court was not given a full and fair opportunity to rule on the issue. Thus, we must review the appellant’s claims under the “plain error” doctrine, which permits reversal only when an error so fundamentally violates a defendant’s rights that it jeopardizes the integrity of the judicial proceeding below. United States v. Pryce, 938 F.2d 1343, 1350 (D.C.Cir.1991) (applying plain error doctrine when issue was raised in a way “too general to alert the trial court to [the appellants’] current claim”), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 112 S.Ct. 1488, 117 L.Ed.2d 629 (1992), and cert. denied, — U.S.-, 112 S.Ct. 1679, 118 L.Ed.2d 396 (1992); Ortez, 902 F.2d at 64 (applying plain error doctrine when defendant failed to object during sentencing); United States v. Blackwell, 694 F.2d 1325, 1342 (D.C.Cir.1982) (noting that “a key reason” for the plain error doctrine is to give the trial court “a fair and prompt opportunity to cure or pre-: vent the original error”). In some future case, in which the District Court has been given the opportunity to consider fully the arguments here asserted, this court will be in a position to give serious consideration to the troubling questions raised by the appellant concerning the validity of policy statement 5K1.1.