Whether the Fifth Circuit's rule that a Guidelines error is harmless if the district court states it would have imposed the same sentence regardless of the properly calculated Guidelines range conflicts with other circuits and undermines the role of the Guidelines in federal sentencing

QUESTION PRESENTED The Fifth Circuit agreed with Mr. Redmond that the district court erred when it applied the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which resulted in a higher advisory sentencing range. Yet the Fifth Circuit affirmed the sentence because the district court stated that it would have imposed the same sentence irrespective of how it calculated the Guidelines. Is Guidelines error harmless simply because a district court makes a statement that it would have imposed the same sentencing regardless of the properly calculated Guidelines? 1