Cite as: 508 U. S. 602 (1993)
Opinion of Thomas, J.
This interpretation also conforms neatly with the very similar language and structure of the actuarial presumption in § 1401(a)(3)(B), which the Court today finds unproblematic. See ante, at 631-636. That presumption provides that the actuary's determination of unfunded vested benefits will be presumed correct unless the employer shows "by a preponderance of the evidence" that the actuarial assumptions and methods were "unreasonable" or that the actuary made a "significant error." The Court offers no persuasive explanation as to why this presumption does not suffer from the same incoherence. In addition, my reading of the term "clearly erroneous" in § 1401(a)(3)(A) renders it virtually indistinguishable from the term "significant error" in § 1401(a)(3)(B).
The second false step in the Court's analysis is the use of the rule of construction applied in Edward J. DeBartolo Corp. v. Florida Gulf Coast Building & Constr. Trades Council, 485 U. S. 568, 575 (1988). Ante, at 628-630. This rule, which requires a court to adopt a reasonable alternative interpretation of a statute when necessary to avoid serious constitutional problems, does not provide authority to construe the statute in a way that "is plainly contrary to the intent of Congress." DeBartolo, supra, at 575. The rule "cannot be stretched beyond the point at which [the alternative] construction remains 'fairly possible.' " Public Citizen v. Department of Justice, 491 U. S. 440, 481 (1989) (Kennedy, J., concurring in judgment) (emphasis in original) (quoting Crowell v. Benson, 285 U. S. 22, 62 (1932)). "And it should not be given too broad a scope lest a whole new range of Government action be proscribed by interpretive shadows cast by constitutional provisions that might or might not invalidate it." Public Citizen, supra, at 481. Here it is plain, in my view, that Congress intended to shield the plan sponsor's factual determinations behind a presumption of correctness and intended that withdrawing employers would have to show something more than simple error. The
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