338
Stevens, J., dissenting
his offense, provided that the time has not already been credited against another sentence.1
The defendant's right to the full credit authorized by the statute is obviously an important right. Both the Attorney General and the sentencing judge have a duty to respect and protect that right. Moreover, it is clear that in the event there is a dispute between the parties over the right to a credit, the dispute must be resolved by the court. No one contends that the Attorney General has unreviewable discretion to determine the appropriate credit in any case.2
In most cases, the calculation of the credit is a routine, ministerial task that will not give rise to any dispute.3 Occasionally, however, as this case demonstrates, there may be a legitimate difference of opinion either about the meaning of the statute or about the relevant facts.4 Such a dispute
1 Title 18 U. S. C. § 3585(b) provides: "(b) Credit for Prior Custody.—A defendant shall be given credit toward the service of a term of imprisonment for any time he has spent in official detention prior to the date the sentence commences—
"(1) as a result of the offense for which the sentence was imposed; or "(2) as a result of any other charge for which the defendant was arrested after the commission of the offense for which the sentence was imposed; "that has not been credited against another sentence."
2 Prior to 1987, when the statute assigned the initial responsibility for determining the length of the credit to the Attorney General, it was settled that his determination was subject to judicial review after the prisoner exhausted his administrative remedies. See Chua Han Mow v. United States, 730 F. 2d 1308, 1313 (CA9 1984), cert. denied, 470 U. S. 1031 (1985).
3 As respondent acknowledged, "the arithmetical task of figuring out the exact date an offender will finish serving his sentence" "is essentially an administrative ministerial function." Tr. of Oral Arg. 4; see also id., at 10, 21, 52.
4 Typically the dispute centers on whether the questioned time was "official detention" or whether the time has already been "credited" to another sentence. See, e. g., United States v. Beston, 936 F. 2d 361 (CA8 1991) (per curiam); United States v. Chalker, 915 F. 2d 1254 (CA9 1990); United States v. Woods, 888 F. 2d 653 (CA10 1989), cert. denied, 494 U. S. 1006 (1990).
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