United States v. Wilson

Summary

The Court, in an opinion by Justice Thomas, held that the Attorney General, through the Bureau of Prisons, must calculate presentence detention credit under 18 U.S.C. § 3585(b) after a defendant begins serving the federal sentence; a district court cannot award that credit at sentencing. The statute also precludes double credit for detention already credited against another sentence. The Court reversed the Sixth Circuit. Justice Stevens, joined by Justice White, dissented, arguing that the statute permits either the sentencing judge or the Attorney General to calculate credit as circumstances warrant and that judicial calculation at sentencing promotes accuracy, access to counsel, and sentencing certainty. He would have affirmed.