758
Opinion of the Court
conclude, and the parties do not dispute, that the phrase "term authorized" refers not to the period of incarceration specified by the Guidelines, but to that permitted by the applicable sentencing statutes.4 Accordingly, the phrase "maximum term authorized" should be construed as requiring the "highest" or "greatest" sentence allowed by statute.
Respondents, however, argue that "maximum term authorized" refers only to the highest penalty authorized by the offense of conviction, excluding any statutory sentencing enhancements. We find little merit in that contention. In calculating the "highest" term prescribed for a specific offense, it is not sufficient merely to identify the basic penalty associated with that offense. Congress has expressly provided enhanced maximum penalties for certain categories of repeat offenders in an effort to treat them more harshly than other offenders. Section 994(h) explicitly refers, for example, to 21 U. S. C. § 841, which establishes a base "term of imprisonment of not more than 20 years" for certain drug traffickers, but then adds that "[i]f any person commits such a violation after a prior conviction for a felony drug offense has become final, such person shall be sentenced to a term
4 Indeed, the Commission has explicitly recognized that "the phrase 'maximum term authorized' should be construed as the maximum term authorized by statute." USSG § 4B1.1, comment., backg'd (Nov. 1987) (emphasis added). And, in our view, the phrase refers to all applicable statutes that would affect the district court's calculation of the prison term. Contrary to the dissent's suggestion, however, 18 U. S. C. § 3584 does not affect the maximum term authorized. Section 3584 merely instructs a sentencing court whether to run "multiple terms of imprisonment" consecutively or concurrently; it says nothing about how the individual term is to be calculated. § 3584 (emphasis added). Of course, § 3584(c), which the dissent highlights, post, at 770, directs that "[m]ultiple terms of imprisonment . . . shall be treated for administrative purposes as a single, aggregate term of imprisonment." 18 U. S. C. § 3584(c) (emphasis added). Each of the sections cited by the dissent falls within this "administrative purposes" carve-out, which in no way undercuts, and in fact plainly bolsters, our point.
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