Cite as: 508 U. S. 36 (1993)
Opinion of the Court
Mistretta v. United States, 488 U. S., at 371-379, and through the informal rulemaking procedures in 5 U. S. C. § 553, see 28 U. S. C. § 994(x). Thus, the guidelines are the equivalent of legislative rules adopted by federal agencies. The functional purpose of commentary (of the kind at issue here) is to assist in the interpretation and application of those rules, which are within the Commission's particular area of concern and expertise and which the Commission itself has the first responsibility to formulate and announce. In these respects this type of commentary is akin to an agency's interpretation of its own legislative rules. As we have often stated, provided an agency's interpretation of its own regulations does not violate the Constitution or a federal statute, it must be given "controlling weight unless it is plainly erroneous or inconsistent with the regulation." Bowles v. Seminole Rock & Sand Co., 325 U. S. 410, 414 (1945). See, e. g., Robertson v. Methow Valley Citizens Council, 490 U. S. 332, 359 (1989); Lyng v. Payne, 476 U. S. 926, 939 (1986); United States v. Larionoff, 431 U. S. 864, 872-873 (1977); Udall v. Tallman, 380 U. S. 1, 16-17 (1965). See also 2 K. Davis, Administrative Law Treatise § 7:22, pp. 105-107 (2d ed. 1979).
According this measure of controlling authority to the commentary is consistent with the role the Sentencing Reform Act contemplates for the Sentencing Commission. The Commission, after all, drafts the guidelines as well as the commentary interpreting them, so we can presume that the interpretations of the guidelines contained in the commentary represent the most accurate indications of how the Commission deems that the guidelines should be applied to be consistent with the Guidelines Manual as a whole as well as the authorizing statute. The Commission has the statutory obligation "periodically [to] review and revise" the guidelines in light of its consultation with authorities on and representatives of the federal criminal justice system. See 28 U. S. C. § 994(o). The Commission also must "revie[w] the presentence report, the guideline worksheets, the tribunal's
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