64
Opinion of the Court
Buford argues that the nature of the question presented here—applying a Sentencing Guidelines term to undisputed facts—demands no deference at all. That is to say, the deference "due" is no deference; hence the Court of Appeals should have reviewed the trial court's decision de novo. Bu-ford points out that, because the underlying facts are not in dispute, witness credibility is not important. She adds that de novo appellate review will help clarify and make meaningful the consolidation-related legal principles at issue. And she says that de novo review will help avoid inconsistent trial court determinations about consolidation, thereby furthering the Guidelines' effort to bring consistency to sentencing law.
Despite these arguments, we believe that the appellate court was right to review this trial court decision deferentially rather than de novo. In Koon, we based our selection of an abuse-of-discretion standard of review on the relative institutional advantages enjoyed by the district court in making the type of determination at issue. See id., at 98-99; cf. Miller v. Fenton, 474 U. S. 104, 114 (1985) (deference may depend on whether "one judicial actor is better positioned than another to decide the issue in question"). We concluded there that the special competence of the district court helped to make deferential review appropriate. And that is true here as well. That is to say, the district court is in a better position than the appellate court to decide whether a particular set of individual circumstances demonstrates "functional consolidation."
That is so because a district judge sees many more "consolidations" than does an appellate judge. As a trial judge, a district judge is likely to be more familiar with trial and sentencing practices in general, including consolidation procedures. And as a sentencing judge who must regularly review and classify defendants' criminal histories, a district judge is more likely to be aware of which procedures the relevant state or federal courts typically follow. Experience with trials, sentencing, and consolidations will help that
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