United States v. Granderson, 511 U.S. 39, 36 (1994)

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74

UNITED STATES v. GRANDERSON

Rehnquist, C. J., dissenting

It follows, from another elementary canon of construction, that the plain language of § 3565(a) should control. See Moskal, 498 U. S., at 108. As we stated in Consumer Product Safety Comm'n v. GTE Sylvania, Inc., 447 U. S. 102, 108 (1980), "[a]bsent a clearly expressed legislative intention to the contrary, [the statutory] language must ordinarily be regarded as conclusive." 7

The Court offers several reasons for rejecting the most natural reading of § 3565(a). None of them persuades. The Court begins by suggesting that if Congress meant for the sentence of probation to be used to calculate the length of incarceration, it could have stated so more clearly. See ante, at 46. Although perhaps true, Congress could have just as easily, if it wished, stated in clear terms that the sentence of incarceration should be calculated based on the maximum available sentence under the Guidelines range. Indeed, as I have already noted, supra, at 72, n. 3, Congress stated something very similar in the subsections preceding and following the one at issue, where it provided that upon revocation of probation, a court can or must impose any sentence that was "available" when the defendant was initially sentenced. See §§ 3565(a)(2) and (b); United States v. Sosa, 997 F. 2d 1130, 1133 (CA5 1993); United States v. Byrkett, 961 F. 2d 1399, 1400-1401 (CA8 1992) ("If Congress, in referring to the 'original sentence,' meant the Guidelines range

seems to think that according the term "original sentence" its most natural reading would require it to readopt a reading of the statute that it justifiably discarded as senseless.

7 The Court suggests that the legislative history of § 3565(a) casts doubt upon the Government's interpretation. Yet even the Court recognizes that the legislative history is, at best, inconclusive. See ante, at 49 ("None of the legislators' expressions . . . focuses on 'the precise meaning of the provision at issue in this case' ") (quoting Brief for United States 24, and n. 4); see also ante, at 51-53, and n. 11. Where the language of a statute is clear, that language, rather than "isolated excerpts from the legislative history," should be followed. Patterson v. Shumate, 504 U. S. 753, 761, and n. 4 (1992).

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