Cite as: 504 U. S. 181 (1992)
Opinion of the Court
under the Guidelines is the same as the statutory minimum and the Government has refused to file any motion at all, the two provisions pose identical and equally burdensome obstacles. See Brief for Petitioner 9, n. 2; Brief for United States 11, n. 2. We are not, therefore, called upon to decide whether § 5K1.1 "implements" and thereby supersedes § 3553(e), see United States v. Ah-Kai, 951 F. 2d 490, 493-494 (CA2 1991); United States v. Keene, 933 F. 2d 711, 713-714 (CA9 1991), or whether the two provisions pose two separate obstacles, see United States v. Rodriguez-Morales, 958 F. 2d 1441, 1443-1447 (CA8 1992).
Wade concedes, as a matter of statutory interpretation, that § 3553(e) imposes the condition of a Government motion upon the district court's authority to depart, Brief for Petitioner 9-10, and he does not argue otherwise with respect to § 5K1.1. He does not claim that the Government-motion requirement is itself unconstitutional, or that the condition is superseded in this case by any agreement on the Government's behalf to file a substantial-assistance motion, cf. Santobello v. New York, 404 U. S. 257, 262-263 (1971); United States v. Conner, 930 F. 2d 1073, 1075-1077 (CA4), cert. denied, 502 U. S. 958 (1991). Wade's position is consistent with the view, which we think is clearly correct, that in both § 3553(e) and § 5K1.1 the condition limiting the court's authority gives the Government a power, not a duty, to file a motion when a defendant has substantially assisted.
Wade nonetheless argues, and again we agree, that a prosecutor's discretion when exercising that power is subject to constitutional limitations that district courts can enforce. Because we see no reason why courts should treat a prosecutor's refusal to file a substantial-assistance motion differently from a prosecutor's other decisions, see, e. g., Wayte v. United States, 470 U. S. 598, 608-609 (1985), we hold that federal district courts have authority to review a prosecutor's refusal to file a substantial-assistance motion and to grant a remedy if they find that the refusal was based on an uncon-
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