292
Thomas, J., dissenting
Congress' contrary intent is "unmistakably clear in the language of the statute." Gregory v. Ashcroft, 501 U. S. 452, 460 (1991) (internal quotation marks omitted). "This plain statement rule is nothing more than an acknowledgment that the States retain substantial sovereign powers under our constitutional scheme, powers with which Congress does not readily interfere." Id., at 461. Gregory's teaching is straightforward: because we "assume Congress does not exercise lightly" its extraordinary power to regulate state officials, id., at 460, we will construe ambiguous statutory provisions in the least intrusive manner that can reasonably be inferred from the statute, id., at 467.
Gregory's rule represents nothing more than a restatement of established law:
"Congress has traditionally been reluctant to define as a federal crime conduct readily denounced as criminal by the States. . . . As this Court emphasized only last Term in Rewis v. United States, [401 U. S. 808 (1971)— a case involving the Hobbs Act's counterpart, the Travel Act], we will not be quick to assume that Congress has meant to effect a significant change in the sensitive relation between federal and state criminal jurisdiction. In traditionally sensitive areas, such as legislation affecting the federal balance, the requirement of clear statement assures that the legislature has in fact faced, and intended to bring into issue, the critical matters involved in the judicial decision." United States v. Bass, 404 U. S., at 349 (footnote omitted).
Similarly, in McNally v. United States, 483 U. S. 350 (1987)— a case closely analogous to this one—we rejected the Government's contention that the federal mail fraud statute, 18 U. S. C. § 1341, protected the citizenry's "intangible right" to good government, and hence could be applied to all instances of state and local corruption. Such an expansive reading of
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