Cite as: 511 U. S. 39 (1994)
Rehnquist, C. J., dissenting
indulge in"); Pavelic & LeFlore v. Marvel Entertainment Group, Div. of Cadence Industries Corp., 493 U. S. 120, 126 (1989) ("Our task is to apply the text, not to improve upon it"); United States v. Locke, 471 U. S. 84, 95 (1985) ("[T]he fact that Congress might have acted with greater clarity or foresight does not give courts a carte blanche to redraft statutes in an effort to achieve that which Congress is perceived to have failed to do"). This admonition takes on a particular importance when the Court construes criminal laws. "[B]e-cause of the seriousness of criminal penalties, and because criminal punishment usually represents the moral condemnation of the community, legislatures and not courts should define criminal activity," United States v. Bass, 404 U. S. 336, 348 (1971), and set the punishments therefor, see Bifulco v. United States, 447 U. S. 381 (1980).
Under any of the three interpretations set forth in the opinions filed today, there are bound to be cases where the mandatory sentence will make little sense or appear anomalous when compared with sentences imposed in similar cases. Some incongruities, however, are inherent in any statute providing for mandatory minimum sentences.
In my view, it is not necessary to invoke the rule of lenity here, for the text and structure of the statute yield but one proper answer. But assuming, as the Court does, that the rule comes into play, I would have thought that it demands the interpretation set forth above. For these reasons, I concur only in the judgment.
Chief Justice Rehnquist, with whom Justice Thomas joins, dissenting.
The Court today interprets the term "original sentence," as it appears in 18 U. S. C. § 3565(a), to mean "the maximum sentence, under the relevant Sentencing Guidelines range, which a defendant could have received, but did not, when initially sentenced." I think this interpretation ignores the
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