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Extracted Text (OCR)
REASONS FOR GRANTING THE PETITION
This case presents a straightforward and important
question about the government’s obligation to honor
its promises in plea and non-prosecution agreements.
The petition asks whether a U.S. Attorney’s promise
made on behalf of “the United States” binds the entire
United States. The government’s Brief in Opposition
only underscores the importance of this question.
Most significantly, the government concedes a
circuit split on this issue, effectively admitting that
defendants’ rights hinge on the happenstance of
geography. Opp.13. Such an acknowledged conflict
among the circuits demands this Court’s intervention.
Rather than grapple with the core principles of plea
agreements, the government tries to distract by
reciting a lurid and irrelevant account of Jeffrey
Epstein’s misconduct. But this case is about what the
government promised, not what Epstein did.
Even more remarkably, the government advances an
interpretation of its non-prosecution agreement that
flips its plain meaning on its head. Promising “not to
prosecute” somehow meant preserving the right to
prosecute. That is not contract interpretation; it is
alchemy. Plea agreements are supposed to be strictly
construed against the government, yet here the
government isn’t even asking for the benefit of the
doubt; it is asking for a blank check to rewrite its own
promise after the fact. The government’s only real
argument is that the Second Circuit rule is correct on
the merits while the other circuits have it wrong. We
obviously disagree, but regardless, the Court should
grant certiorari so that all circuits employ that same rule.
DOJ-OGR-00000245