Cite as: 508 U. S. 36 (1993)
Opinion of the Court
tion or a federal statute, such an interpretation must be given controlling weight unless it is plainly erroneous or inconsistent with the regulation it interprets. See, e. g., Bowles v. Seminole Rock & Sand Co., 325 U. S. 410, 414. Amended commentary is binding on the courts even though it is not reviewed by Congress, and prior judicial constructions of a particular guideline cannot prevent the Sentencing Commission from adopting a conflicting interpretation that satisfies the standard adopted herein. Pp. 40-46. (b) Application of the foregoing principles leads to the conclusion that federal courts may not use the felon-in-possession offense as the predicate crime of violence for purposes of imposing § 4B1.1's career offender provision as to those defendants to whom Amendment 433 applies. Although the guideline text may not compel the Amendment's exclusion of the offense in question from the "crime of violence" definition, the commentary is a binding interpretation of the quoted phrase because it does not run afoul of the Constitution or a federal statute, and it is not plainly erroneous or inconsistent with § 4B1.2. P. 47. (c) The Court declines to address the Government's argument that Stinson's sentence conformed with the Guidelines Manual in effect when he was sentenced, and that the sentence may not be reversed on appeal based upon a postsentence amendment to the Manual's provisions. The Court of Appeals did not consider this theory, and it is not fairly included in the question this Court formulated in its grant of certiorari. It is left to be addressed on remand. Pp. 47-48. 943 F. 2d 1268, vacated and remanded.
Kennedy, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.
William Mallory Kent argued the cause and filed a brief for petitioner.
Paul J. Larkin, Jr., argued the cause for the United States. With him on the brief were Acting Solicitor General Bryson, Acting Assistant Attorney General Keeney, and John F. DePue.*
Justice Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court.
In this case we review a decision of the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit holding that the commentary to the
*Robert Augustus Harper filed a brief for the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as amicus curiae.
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