John Paul Stevens

“ Two days earlier, however, in petitioner's case a different panel of the same court had given a different answer to that question. Petitioner's panel disposed of his case pursuant to Fifth Circuit Rule 47.5, which permits the Court of Appeals to leave unpublished those "opinions that have no precedential value and merely decide particular cases on the basis of well-settled principles of law." There is thus a conflict within the Fifth Circuit on both the answer and the importance of the question petitioner presents to us. ”

“ It is unfortunate that the summary disposition of petitioner's case by the Fifth Circuit and this Court may require petitioner to serve an 18-month prison sentence when the Guidelines would specify a range between only 9 and 15 months even if petitioner's criminal history category were increased two full levels. That, however, is the kind of burden that the individual litigant must occasionally bear when efficient management is permitted to displace the careful administration of justice in each case. ”

“ Because the petition does not identify any inter-Circuit conflict concerning the question presented, and because the answer provided by the Fifth Circuit's published opinion is widely supported, the Court's denial of certiorari today is entirely consistent with rules governing the management of our certiorari docket. ”