The following excerpt is from US v. Soltero, 510 F.3d 858 (9th Cir. 2007):
As a general rule, although a sentencing court must determine "whether a defendant must abide by a condition, and how . . . a defendant will be subjected to the condition," the court may "delegate to the probation officer the details of where and when the condition will be satisfied." Stephens, 424 F.3d at 880. Under our Constitution, the power to punish is exclusively judicial, see Ex parte United States, 242 U.S. 27, 41-42, 37 S.Ct. 72, 61 L.Ed. 129 (1916), and thus the important limitation on a district court's discretion is that it may not delegate to the probation office the job of "deciding the nature or extent of the punishment imposed upon a probationer," United States v. Pruden, 398 F.3d 241, 250 (3d Cir.2005).
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