432
Opinion of the Court
the Attorney General is to remove it to the federal court, where, as in a case that originated in the federal forum, the United States will be substituted as the party defendant. § 2679(d)(2).
The statute next instructs that the "certification of the Attorney General shall conclusively establish scope of office or employment for purposes of removal." Ibid. (emphasis added). The meaning of that instruction, in the view of petitioners and the Attorney General, is just what the emphasized words import. Congress spoke in discrete sentences in § 2679(d)(2) first of removal, then of substitution. Next, Congress made the Attorney General's certificate conclusive solely for purposes of removal, and notably not for purposes of substitution. It follows, petitioners and the Attorney General conclude, that the scope-of-employment judgment determinative of substitution can and properly should be checked by the court, i. e., the Attorney General's scarcely disinterested certification on that matter is by statute made the first, but not the final word.
Lamagno's construction does not draw on the "certification . . . shall [be conclusive] . . . for purposes of removal" language of § 2679(d)(2).8 Instead, Lamagno emphasizes the word "shall" in the statement: "Upon certification by the Attorney General . . . any civil action or proceeding . . . shall be deemed an action against the United States . . . , and the United States shall be substituted as the party defendant." § 2679(d)(1) (emphasis added). Any doubt as to the commanding force of the word "shall," 9 Lamagno urges, is dis-8 In fact, under Lamagno's construction, this provision has no work to do, because Congress would have had no cause to insulate removal from challenge. If certification cannot be overturned, as Lamagno urges, then a firm basis for federal jurisdiction is ever present—the United States is a party, and the FTCA governs the case.
9 Though "shall" generally means "must," legal writers sometimes use, or misuse, "shall" to mean "should," "will," or even "may." See D. Mellinkoff, Mellinkoff's Dictionary of American Legal Usage 402-403 (1992) ("shall" and "may" are "frequently treated as synonyms" and their mean-
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