Cite as: 511 U. S. 485 (1994)
Souter, J., dissenting
show at sentencing that prior convictions offered for enhancement were unconstitutionally obtained.
II
A
Even if I thought the ACCA was ambiguous (the most the Court's statutory arguments could establish), I would resolve the ambiguity in petitioner's favor in accordance with the " 'cardinal principle' " of statutory construction that " 'this Court will first ascertain whether a construction of the statute is fairly possible by which [a constitutional] question may be avoided.' " Ashwander v. TVA, 297 U. S. 288, 348 (1936) (Brandeis, J., concurring) (quoting Crowell v. Benson, 285 U. S. 22, 62 (1932)); see also Edward J. DeBartolo Corp. v. Florida Gulf Coast Building & Constr. Trades Council, 485 U. S. 568, 575 (1988); NLRB v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago, 440 U. S. 490, 499-501, 504 (1979); Blodgett v. Holden, 275 U. S. 142, 148 (1927) (Holmes, J., concurring in result). The Ashwander principle, to be sure, comes into play only when the constitutional question to be avoided is a difficult one, but that designation easily fits the question that the Court's reading of the ACCA requires it to decide, the question whether the Constitution permits courts to enhance a defendant's sentence on the basis of a prior conviction the defendant can show was obtained in violation of his right to effective assistance of counsel, see Strickland v. Washington, 466 U. S. 668 (1984), or that the defendant can show was based on an unknowing or involuntary guilty plea, see Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U. S. 238 (1969).
This is a difficult question, for one thing, because the language and logic of Burgett and Tucker are hard to limit to claimed violations of the right, recognized in Gideon v. Wainwright, to have a lawyer appointed if necessary. As indicated by the uniformity of lower court decisions interpreting them, see supra, at 500, and n. 3, Burgett and Tucker are easily (if not best) read as announcing the broader principle
505
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