Cite as: 506 U. S. 194 (1993)
Opinion of the Court
B
The relevant portion of the Dictionary Act, 1 U. S. C. § 1, provides (as it did in 1959) that
"[i]n determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, unless the context indicates otherwise—
. . . . . "the wor[d] 'person' . . . include[s] corporations, companies, associations, firms, partnerships, societies, and joint stock companies, as well as individuals."
See 1 U. S. C. § 1 (1958 ed.). "Context" here means the text of the Act of Congress surrounding the word at issue, or the texts of other related congressional Acts, and this is simply an instance of the word's ordinary meaning: "[t]he part or parts of a discourse preceding or following a 'text' or passage or a word, or so intimately associated with it as to throw light upon its meaning." Webster's New International Dictionary 576 (2d ed. 1942). While "context" can carry a secondary meaning of "[a]ssociated surroundings, whether material or mental," ibid., we doubt that the broader sense applies here. The Dictionary Act uses "context" to give an
the Department of Justice that this proposal would be consonant with the ideas or policies of the United States." Ibid. Second, "the Judicial Conference of the United States in recommending this legislation pointed out that the distinction between citizens and aliens as contained in existing law may be unconstitutional." Ibid. Third, "it may also be in violation of various treaties entered into by the United States with foreign countries which guarantees [sic] to their citizens access of the courts of the United States on the same terms as American citizens." Ibid.; see also S. Rep. No. 947, 86th Cong., 1st Sess., 2 (1959) (quoting the portion of the House Report containing these three reasons). None of these reasons supports extension of § 1915 benefits to artificial entities, or suggests that anyone involved with drafting or evaluating this legislation was thinking of such an extension. The House debate on the bill contains a discussion about the deportation of alien criminals, a matter which obviously concerns only natural persons, see 105 Cong. Rec. 13714 (1959) (remarks of Rep. Gross and Rep. Rogers); otherwise, the congressional debates provide no additional information, see ibid.; id., at 18909 (remarks of Sen. Eastland).
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