Fernandez v. United States · ¶79

By design, the new Guidelines-based system left little room for judges to exercise discretion when determining the applicable sentence. See S. Rep. No. 98–225, at 38 (describing the new system as aimed at eliminating “the unfettered discretion the law confers” on sentencing judges). At the same time, Congress recognized that removing all discretion would result in unfairly harsh sentences for some prisoners. Indeed, despite the uniformity aim of the Guidelines, lawmakers acknowledged the possibility of an “exceptional situation where someone obviously slips through the cracks and gets a much longer sentence.” Hearings on Revision of the Federal Criminal Code before the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice of the House Committee on the Judiciary, 96th Cong., 1st Sess., pt. 3, pp. 1842–1843 (1979) (Code Revision Hearings) (statement of Rep. Lungren). Federal judges similarly warned of “those…

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