Cite as: 518 U. S. 120 (1996)
Opinion of the Court
"(a) The appropriate reduction shall be determined by the court for reasons stated that may include, but are not limited to, consideration of the following: [List of five factors for the court's consideration, including] the government's evaluation of the assistance rendered."
Petitioner argues that § 5K1.1 creates what he calls a "unitary" motion system, in which a motion attesting to the substantial assistance of the defendant and requesting a departure below the Guidelines range also permits a district court to depart below the statutory minimum.2 The Government views § 5K1.1 as establishing a binary motion system, which permits the Government to authorize a departure below the Guidelines range while withholding from the court the authority to depart below a lower statutory minimum. The parties argue, naturally, that their respective interpretations of the system actually adopted by the Sentencing Commission were permissible ones under § 3553(e) and § 994(n).3
We believe that § 3553(e) requires a Government motion requesting or authorizing the district court to "impose a sentence below a level established by statute as minimum
2 Petitioner also argues for the first time in his reply brief that the plea agreement into which he entered was at least ambiguous with respect to whether it required the Government to move the District Court to depart below the statutory minimum—and thus that the agreement itself permitted the court to depart below the 10-year minimum. See Reply Brief for Petitioner 7-8. We do not view this issue as included within the question upon which we granted certiorari, see Pet. for Cert. 3 ("Did the sentencing court have the discretion to depart below the applicable statutory minimum once the United States moved for departure under USSG § 5K1, without the requirement of a second government departure application under 18 U. S. C. 3553(e)?"), and petitioner appears to concede that it is not, see Tr. of Oral Arg. 15. We therefore decline to address the argument.
3 Although it is plain that under § 994(n), the Commission was at least authorized to create a system in which no Government motion of any kind need be filed before the district court may depart below the Guidelines minimum, neither party argues that the Commission has created such a system.
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