Court Opinion

ID: 9433337
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:39:53.386777+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:40.711387
License: Public Domain

Justice Stevens,
concurring in the judgment.
Petitioner has persuaded me that the Sentencing Commission intended §5K1.1 to create a unitary motion system under which any request for a departure below the Guideline range based on substantial assistance would also authorize a departure below the statutory minimum. Such a system would be eminently reasonable, but, for two reasons, I am convinced that Congress did not intend to authorize it. First, I agree with the Court that the text of § 3553(e) does not authorize the court to impose a sentence below the statutory minimum unless the Government has made a motion requesting that relief. Second, notwithstanding my serious doubts concerning the wisdom of a congressional decision to impose statutory minimum sentences higher than those considered appropriate by the Commission, the very fact that Congress has done so indicates that it intended to confer the authority to dispense with the statutory minima on the prosecutor rather than the Commission.
Thus, I concur in the judgment because I agree with the Court’s interpretation of § 3553(e).