Cite as: 507 U. S. 170 (1993)
Souter, J., dissenting
of a RICO enterprise. Ante, at 177-179. What strikes the Court as clear, however, looks at the very least hazy to me, and I accordingly find the statute's "liberal construction" provision not irrelevant, but dispositive. But even if I were to assume, with the majority, that the word "conduct" clearly imports some degree of direction or control into § 1962(c), I would have to say that the majority misapplies its own "operation or management" test to the facts presented here. I therefore respectfully dissent.
The word "conduct" occurs twice in § 1962(c), first as a verb, then as a noun.
"It shall be unlawful for any person employed by or associated with any enterprise engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce, to conduct or participate, directly or indirectly, in the conduct of such enterprise's affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity or collection of unlawful debt." 18 U. S. C. § 1962(c).
Although the Court is surely correct that the cognates should receive consistent readings, see ante, at 177, and correct again that "context is important" in coming to understand the sense of the terms intended by Congress, ante, at 178, the majority goes astray in quoting only the verb form of "conduct" in its statement of the context for divining a meaning that must fit the noun usage as well. Thus, the majority reaches its pivotal conclusion that "in the context of the phrase 'to conduct . . . [an] enterprise's affairs,' the word indicates some degree of direction." Ibid. (footnote omitted). To be sure, if the statutory setting is so abbreviated as to limit consideration to the word as a verb, it is plausible to find in it a suggestion of control, as in the phrase "to conduct an orchestra." (Even so, the suggestion is less than emphatic, since even when "conduct" is used as a verb, "[t]he notion of direction or leadership is often obscured or lost; e. g. an investigation is conducted by all those who take
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