Whether a district court imposing a reduced sentence under Section 404(b) of the First Step Act is prohibited from correcting an erroneous Sentencing Guidelines calculation not related to the Fair Sentencing Act

QUESTION PRESENTED Section 404(b) of the First Step Act of 2018 permits district courts to “impose a reduced sentence” on defendants who committed offenses for which the penalties were subsequently modified by the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010. The Ninth Circuit, in agreement with the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits, holds that a court imposing a reduced sentence under the First Step Act is prohibited from correcting any errors in the defendant’s original Sentencing Guidelines calculation not directly related to the Fair Sentencing Act, even if intervening law has made clear that the defendant’s career-offender designation was incorrect at the time it was imposed. In contrast, the Fourth and Tenth Circuits hold that resentencing district courts must correct errors in the Guidelines calculation to account for intervening clarifications of the Guidelines’ meaning, while the Third and Sixth Circuits hold that a resentencing district court must consider both intervening clarifications of the Guidelines and any intervening Guidelines amendments when resentencing a defendant. The question presented is: Whether a district court imposing a reduced sentence under Section 404(b) of the First Step Act is prohibited from correcting an erroneous Sentencing Guidelines calculation not related to the Fair Sentencing Act, as three circuits hold, or whether a resentencing court must correct a Guidelines error that has been made clear by intervening judicial interpretations, as four circuits hold. (i)