Gutierrez de Martinez v. Lamagno, 515 U.S. 417, 33 (1995)

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Cite as: 515 U. S. 417 (1995)

Souter, J., dissenting

has become too attenuated to analogize to the case in which the interested party would protect himself by judging his own cause or otherwise take the law into his own hands in disregard of established legal process. Although the Court quotes at length from the traditional condemnations of self-interested judgments, ante, at 428-429, its citations would be on point here only if the employee were issuing the certification. But of course, the employee is not the one who does it, and the Attorney General plainly lacks the kind of self-interest that " 'would certainly bias [her] judgment, and, not improbably, corrupt [her] integrity. . . .'" Ante, at 428, quoting The Federalist No. 10, p. 79 (C. Rossiter ed. 1961) (J. Madison).

In any event, even when this presumption is applicable, it

is still no more than a presumption, to be given controlling effect only if reference to "specific language or specific legislative history" and "inferences of intent drawn from the statutory scheme as a whole," Block v. Community Nutrition Institute, 467 U. S. 340, 349 (1984), leave the Court with "substantial doubt" as to Congress's design, id., at 351. There is no substantial doubt here. The presumption has no work to do.

I would affirm.

449

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