Hunter v. United States · ¶80

The Court's decision recognizes these established principles and rightly endorses the “emerging consensus” that they should inform the enforceability of appeal waivers. Id., at 886; see ante, at 720–721, and n. 1, 727. When the Government moves to enforce an appeal waiver, it is asking the court of appeals to hold a defendant to a position that he knowingly and voluntarily took below. In the mine run of cases, that waiver should be enforced: The right to appeal, like most other rights, can be relinquished, either when the appeal is ripe (by declining to file an appeal) or prospectively (by signing an appeal waiver). But as the Court explains, there are some extreme cases where enforcing an appeal waiver would paper over an “egregious” and “obvious” error that would “bring the judicial system into disrepute.” Ante, at 727. In those rare circumstances, the appellate court should decline…

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