212
White, J., dissenting
role in the calculation of points pertaining to the offense level and criminal history category reduced into the Sentencing Table, USSG § 5A, from which the applicable guideline range is drawn.7 It follows that "application of the sentencing guidelines" refers only to those Guidelines relevant to the construction of the applicable guideline range.8
Even though policy statements are numbered and grouped in the Guidelines Manual by means identical to actual Guidelines, see USSG § 1B1.6, their purpose is limited to interpreting and explaining how to apply the Guidelines, and— significantly—"may provide guidance in assessing the reasonableness of any departure from the guidelines," § 1B1.7. While the district court must consider policy statements when determining the appropriate sentence, see 18 U. S. C. § 3553(a)(5), the Act's legislative history could not have been more explicit that an error in their interpretation is not, in itself, subject to appellate review:
"It should be noted that a sentence that is inconsistent with the sentencing guidelines is subject to appellate review, while one that is consistent with guidelines but inconsistent with the policy statements is not. This is not intended to undermine the value of the policy statements. It is, instead, a recognition that the policy statements may be more general in nature than the guidelines and thus more difficult to use in determining the right to appellate review." S. Rep. No. 98-225,
7 The interrelationship of subsections (a)(4), (b), and (c) of § 3553 compels this conclusion. See supra, at 207-208. For within these subsections, all reference ultimately is to those actual Guidelines, as opposed to policy statements, promulgated pursuant to 28 U. S. C. § 994(a)(1).
8 The majority misinterprets this conclusion to be only that formally designated Guidelines "can be incorrectly applied within the meaning of 18 U. S. C. § 3742(f)(1)." Ante, at 200. What I plainly conclude, however, is that only these Guidelines are part of the district court's calculus when constructing the applicable guideline range, and it was to the propriety of this construction that Congress addressed itself in § 3742(e)(2).
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