Posters 'N' Things, Ltd. v. United States, 511 U.S. 513, 18 (1994)

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530

POSTERS 'N' THINGS, LTD. v. UNITED STATES

Scalia, J., concurring in judgment

cally for use with drugs, a subset of those items in a particular store may be 'primarily intended' for use with drugs by virtue of the circumstances of their display and sale." Ante, at 521, n. 11.

If by the "circumstances of . . . sale" the Court means to include the circumstance that the seller says, "You will find these scales terrific for weighing drugs," or that the buyer asks, "Do you have any scales suitable for weighing drugs?"—then there is really very little, if any, difference between the Court's position and mine. Intent can only be known, of course, through objective manifestations. If what the Court means by "a relatively particularized objective definition" is that all objective manifestations of the seller's intent are to be considered part of the "circumstances of sale," then there is no difference whatever between us (though I persist in thinking it would be simpler to say that "intended for sale" means "intended for sale" than to invent the concept of "a relatively particularized objective intent"). If, on the other hand, only some and not all objective manifestations of the seller's intent are to be considered part of the "circumstances of sale" (manner of display, for example, but not manner of oral promotion), then the Court ought to provide some description of those that do and those that do not, and (if possible) some reason for the distinction.

Finally, I cannot avoid noting that the only available legislative history—statements by the very Congressman who introduced the text in question, see ante, at 522, n. 12—unambiguously supports my view. I point that out, not because I think those statements are pertinent to our analysis, but because it displays once again that our acceptance of the supposed teachings of legislative history is more sporadic than our professions of allegiance to it. See Thunder Basin Coal Co. v. Reich, 510 U. S. 200, 219 (1994) (Scalia, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment); Wisconsin Public Intervenor v. Mortier, 501 U. S. 597, 617 (1991) (Scalia, J., concurring in judgment).

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