Hunter v. United States · ¶56

Consider what this means. Because a defendant confronted with an appeal waiver during plea bargaining does not know what sentence a court will issue, he must negotiate in the dark. What if, as the Fifth Circuit assumed here, the sentencing judge imposes a punishment the Constitution does not tolerate? What if the judge fails to respect this Court's precedents and Congress's statutes governing how he must proceed at sentencing and what punishments he may lawfully issue? What if a judge goes so far as to allow an orangutan to pick the defendant's sentence from a hat? As the government tells it, a defendant with an appeal waiver has no way to correct any of these errors on appeal (yes, even when it comes to the orangutan, see Tr. of Oral Arg. 65–66, 91–92). And yet, because an appeal waiver may often be bundled together with other terms in a plea deal in a take-or-leave package, a…

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