The year 1997 was the 10th anniversary of the Federal sentencing guidelines (the Guidelines), which took effect on November 1, 1987. Most of the criticism of the Guidelines has been directed at the allocation of decision-making power between district courts and the United States Sentencing Commission. This article, in contrast, discusses the allocation of decision-making power between district judges and appellate judges. The article includes a historical overview of sentencing in the Federal courts and analyzes the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence on appellate review under the Guidelines. It argues that the abuse of discretion standard should be reformulated to reflect a sliding scale of deference approach in which differing degrees of deference are applied depending upon the specific inquiry involved. The article suggests one such framework and demonstrates how it would work. Notes, appendix