198
Opinion of the Court
v. United States, 498 U. S. 906 (1990), which held that when a sentencing court uses both proper and improper factors to justify a departure, the sentence can be affirmed if it is reasonable in light of the proper factors standing alone. 902 F. 2d, at 508-509. Applying Franklin, the Court of Appeals concluded that, despite the District Court's error in considering Williams' prior arrest record, the court had "correctly determined that Mr. Williams' criminality was not reflected properly in the criminal history category and that the relevant evidence justified the rather modest increase in sentence." 910 F. 2d, at 1580.
We granted certiorari, 499 U. S. 918 (1991), to resolve a conflict among the Circuits on whether a reviewing court may affirm a sentence in which a district court's departure from the guideline range is based on both valid and invalid factors. Compare United States v. Zamarripa, 905 F. 2d 337, 342 (CA10 1990) (when one or more of the stated grounds for departure is invalid, the case must be remanded for resentencing); United States v. Hernandez-Vasquez, 884 F. 2d 1314, 1315-1316 (CA9 1989) (same), with United States v. Franklin, supra, at 508-509 (when one or more of the stated grounds for departure is invalid, appellate court may affirm if sentence is still reasonable in light of remaining factors); United States v. Rodriguez, 882 F. 2d 1059, 1066-1068 (CA6 1989) (same), cert. denied, 493 U. S. 1084 (1990); United States v. Hummer, 916 F. 2d 186, 195, n. 8 (CA4 1990) (same), cert. denied, 499 U. S. 970 (1991).
II
The Act provides that a district court may depart from the sentencing range set by the Guidelines only when it finds that "there exists an aggravating or mitigating circumstance of a kind, or to a degree, not adequately taken into consideration by the Sentencing Commission in formulating the guidelines." 18 U. S. C. § 3553(b). A defendant may file an appeal if a sentence was imposed in violation of law or as a
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