Roger E. Pace v. United States

Courts interpret statutes by applying Congress’s plain language. In the First Step Act, Congress modified the federal sentencing statute to say that a defendant qualifies for safety-valve relief from a mandatory-minimum sentence if he “does not have” three different qualifiers. Congress enumerated those qualifiers using the conjunctive “and.” Is a defendant who “does not have” all three qualifiers safety-valve-eligible? More specifically, the question presented is whether the “and” in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(f)(1) means “and,” so that a defendant is safety-valve-eligible so long as he does not have (A) more than 4 criminal history points, (B) a 3-point offense, and (C) a 2- point violent offense (as the Fourth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits hold), or whether the “and” means “or,” so that a defendant is only safety-valve-eligible if he has none of: (A) more than 4 criminal history points, (B) a 3-point offense, or (C) a 2-point violent offense (as the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Circuits hold).