200
Opinion of the Court
rect application" standard of § 3742(f)(1) means that once a departure ground is invalidated, a remand is always in order. The Government does not dispute that a district court's reliance upon an invalid factor in departing from the guideline sentencing range is appropriately characterized as an "incorrect application" of the Guidelines, but contends that a remand is only required when the error was determinative in the decision to depart.
We agree with both parties that a sentencing court's use of an invalid departure ground is an incorrect application of the Guidelines. The Guidelines echo the Act's instruction that a district court may depart from the applicable guideline range only when it finds an aggravating or mitigating circumstance " 'not adequately taken into consideration by the Sentencing Commission' " in formulating the Guidelines. USSG § 1A4(b), p. s., § 5K2.0, p. s. (both quoting 18 U. S. C. § 3553(b)). Construing the plain language of the Guidelines Manual and the governing statute, we conclude that it is an incorrect application of the Guidelines for a district court to depart from the applicable sentencing range based on a factor that the Commission has already fully considered in establishing the guideline range or, as in this case, on a factor that the Commission has expressly rejected as an appropriate ground for departure.
Congress has defined "guidelines" as "the guidelines promulgated by the commission pursuant to section 994(a)." 28 U. S. C. § 998(c). Section 994(a) grants the Commission the authority to promulgate both "guidelines," § 994(a)(1), and "general policy statements regarding application of the guidelines," § 994(a)(2). The dissent draws a distinction between the "actual" guidelines and the policy statements that "interpre[t]" and "explai[n]" them; in the dissent's view, only the former can be incorrectly applied within the meaning of 18 U. S. C. § 3742(f)(1). Post, at 211-212. But to say that guidelines are distinct from policy statements is not to say that their meaning is unaffected by policy statements.
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