Waiver of the Right to Appeal Sentencing in Plea Agreements with the Federal Government

During the summer of 1997, the Department of Justice issued a directive requiring all future federal plea agreements to include language providing that a defendant waive her statutory right to appeal the sentence imposed by a judge' guaranteed by the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 (the "Act"). 2 Various agreements in several federal jurisdictions previously had used similar waiver language on an ad hoc basis.'Twice during the summer of 1997, the issue arose in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.4 Although several circuits have deemed the waiver acceptable, 5 Judges Paul L. Friedman and Harold H. Greene ruled in separate hearings that the U.S. Attorney's office could not include such a condition in any plea agreement.6 Though the U.S. Attorney's office subsequently withdrew the language and proceeded contrary to the Department of Justice 1. See United States v. Raynor, 989 F