Cite as: 507 U. S. 511 (1993)
Scalia, J., concurring in judgment
legislative history rather than on the basis of its plain text has found that Congress did not intend § 205 to apply to career members of the military who cannot show prejudice or hardship. See, in addition to the court below, Pannell v. Continental Can Co., 554 F. 2d 216, 224-225 (CA5 1977); Bailey v. Barranca, 83 N. M. 90, 94-95, 488 P. 2d 725, 729-730 (1971); King v. Zagorski, 207 So. 2d 61, 66-67 (Fla. App. 1968). The only scholarly commentary I am aware of addressing this issue concludes: "An examination of the legislative history of the Act shows that the prevailing interpretation of section 205 [i. e., the Court's interpretation] is not consistent with congressional intent." Folk, Tolling of Statutes of Limitations under Section 205 of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act, 102 Mil. L. Rev. 157, 168 (1983). Finally, even the Government itself, which successfully urged in this case the position we have adopted, until recently believed, on the basis of legislative history, the contrary. See Townsend v. Secretary of Air Force, No. 90-1168, 1991 U. S. App. LEXIS 26578, *5-*7 (CA4, Nov. 12, 1991); Brief for United States as Amicus Curiae 17, n. 19 (filed June 2, 1992) (noting Government's position in Townsend that § 205 requires a showing of prejudice); see also Bickford v. United States, 656 F. 2d 636, 640 (Ct. Cl. 1981) ("The Government argues that the statute does not mean what it says because the legislative history evinces Congress' intent to limit the applicability of [§ 205] to those servicemen engaged in battle or who are otherwise handicapped from asserting their legal claims").
I confess that I have not personally investigated the entire legislative history—or even that portion of it which relates to the four statutes listed above. The excerpts I have examined and quoted were unearthed by a hapless law clerk to whom I assigned the task. The other Justices have, in the aggregate, many more law clerks than I, and it is quite possible that if they all were unleashed upon this enterprise they would discover, in the legislative materials dating back to
527
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