Cite as: 507 U. S. 43 (1993)
Blackmun, J., dissenting
meaning of the contested phrase comes down to an unresolvable contest between a reading that emphasizes the word "caused" and one that emphasizes the word "delivered." But Article III contains another word that is at least as significant. That word favors petitioner's interpretation. The word is "he." The 180-day clock begins after he—the prisoner—"shall have caused" the request to be delivered. The focus is on the prisoner's act, and that act is complete when he transmits his request to the warden. That is the last time at which the inmate can be said to have done anything to "have caused to be delivered" the request. Any other reading renders the words "he shall have caused" superfluous.
Even if the provision's focus on the prisoner's act were not so clear, the statute could not be read as Michigan suggests. The provision's use of the future perfect tense is highly significant. Contrary to the majority's contention that "the future perfect would be an appropriate tense for both interpretations," ante, at 48, the logical way to express the idea that receipt must be perfected before the provision applies would be to start the clock 180 days "after he has caused the request to have been delivered." But the IAD does not say that, nor does it use the vastly more simple, "after delivery."
That this construction was intentional is supported by the drafting history of the IAD. When the Council of State Governments proposed the agreement governing interstate detainers, it also proposed model legislation governing intrastate detainers. See Suggested State Legislation Program for 1957, pp. 77-78 (1956). Both proposals contained language virtually identical to the language in Article III(a). See id., at 77. The Council stated that the intrastate proposal was "based substantially on statutes now operative in California and Oregon." Id., at 76. Critically, however, neither State's provision referred to a delivery "caused" by the prisoner. The Oregon statute required trial "within 90 days of receipt" by the district attorney of the prisoner's
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