Legal Commentary

This is the fascinating issue that divides a panel of the D.C. Circuit in a decision handed down today. The specific question is whether federal sentencing law bars a district court from choosing a longer jail sentence in order to further the defendant's opportunities for rehabilitation.  The majority (Judges Tatel and Garland) answers this question in the affirmative, reasoning that the plain language of 18 U.S.C. 3582(a) compels such a conclusion. 

But whatever the merits of their (persuasive) analysis, what makes this case interesting (at least to me) is that the court finds that the district court's error (in concluding to the contrary) was "plain," even though, as the majority points out, there is a circuit split on the question. As Judge Henderson objects in her dissent, "Whoever has the better reading [of the statute], courts have read it differently?and with conflicting results?which manifests, at least to me, that any court that has read it erroneously has not done so plainly."

Is Judge Henderson right that it is generally inappropriate, on plain error review, to find such "plain" error where the district court relied on precedent from several circuits? Or, to the contrary, is it refreshingly honest for one circuit court to admit, however implicitly, that its sister circuits are sometimes "plainly" wrong? I tend toward the latter view (after all, precedent should never be followed blindly), but think this is a fascinating issue that may well warrant further discussion.