Cite as: 503 U. S. 193 (1992)
White, J., dissenting
ing circumstance not adequately taken into account by the Sentencing Commission is an " 'incorrect application' of the Guidelines," while referring only to two policy statements contained in the Guidelines Manual, see USSG §§ 1A4(b), p. s., and 5K2.0, p. s., which, the majority says, do no more than echo the statute.12 Ante, at 200. Since the policy statements referred to by the majority merely refer to the statute, the majority's confusion about the distinction between Guidelines and policy statements is without import. But the majority concludes that the "Guidelines"—and we have here at issue only a policy statement, USSG § 4A1.3, p. s.—qualify the propriety of basing a departure on arrest records, and that the District Court erred in relying on arrest records without further explanation. To the extent that the majority equates the District Court's misinterpretation of this policy statement with a misapplication of the Guidelines that must be dealt with under § 3742(f)(1), it does so erroneously. Such error by the District Court signifies only an invalid grounds for departure, nothing more. While the majority concludes that such a policy statement "prohibits a district court from taking a specified action" and thereby "is an authoritative guide to the meaning of the applicable Guideline," ante, at 201, it remains a fact that this statute does not permit appellate review for the mere misinterpretation of a policy statement, see supra, at 212-213.
Significantly, subsections (a) and (b) of § 3742 do not authorize appeal of a sentence imposed within the guideline range correctly determined under the Sentencing Guidelines. And if any alleged error is found to be without basis, the appellate court "shall affirm the sentence." 18 U. S. C.
12 I point the majority to the language of one of the policy statements it cites: USSG § 1A.4(b), p. s. When discussing guided departures of the type referred to in § 4A1.3, p. s., the Sentencing Commission states that it "intends such suggestions as policy guidance for the courts. The Commission expects that most departures will reflect the suggestions and that the courts of appeals may prove more likely to find departures 'unreasonable' where they fall outside suggested levels" (emphasis added).
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