778
Breyer, J., dissenting
specific statutory instructions. § 994. Thus the very nature of the task, along with the structure of the Sentencing Act, indicates a congressional intent to delegate primarily to the Commission the job of interpreting, and harmonizing, the authorizing Act's specific statutory instructions—subject, of course, to the kind of judicial supervision and review that courts would undertake were the Commission a typical administrative agency. This Court has previously implied that this is so. See Stinson v. United States, 508 U. S. 36, 44-45 (1993); cf. Mistretta, supra, at 393-394.
Were the Commission a typical administrative agency, we would ask whether its "policy" choice is "reasonable," hence "permissible," given the statute. Chevron, supra, at 843- 844, 866. And we would give the Commission considerable interpretive leeway in light of the fact that the choice here at issue lies at the very heart of the Commission's policy-related "expertise." Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation v. LTV Corp., 496 U. S. 633, 651-652 (1990) ("[P]ractical agency expertise is one of the principal justifications behind Chevron deference"); Commodity Futures Trading Comm'n v. Schor, 478 U. S. 833, 845 (1986). The Commission's exercise of that expertise here—its Career Offender Guideline— meets this legal requirement.
As a matter of policy, the Commission could take account of the fact that the Guideline that the majority believes the statute requires would significantly interfere with one of the Sentencing Act's basic objectives—greater uniformity in sentencing. 28 U. S. C. §§ 991(b)(1)(B), 994(f). That is because at least one important set of statutory recidivist enhancements—the drug crime enhancements contained in 21 U. S. C. § 841(b)—may be imposed only when the prosecutor files a specific document requesting it. § 851(a). Consequently, the majority's interpretation of 28 U. S. C. § 994(h) places significant power in the hands of the prosecutor to determine the length of the offender's sentence; and different prosecutors at different times may exercise that power in
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