866
Breyer, J., dissenting
the retirement assets only after Isaac received them. I recognize that Isaac did not use the $150,000 to buy a new house, or to pay for medical expenses, or to gamble; rather, he put the money into an IRA. But no one has explained why that fact—which in all likelihood reflects the exigencies of tax law, see 26 U. S. C. § 408(e)(1)—should make any difference here.
2
Sandra Boggs and the Acting Solicitor General look for support to another portion of the anti-alienation section—an amendment that was part of the Retirement Equity Act of 1984 (REA), Pub. L. 98-397, 98 Stat. 1426—that affects the division of assets upon divorce. That section says that the "anti-alienation" provision, 29 U. S. C. § 1056(d)(1), "shall not apply if the order is determined to be a qualified domestic relations order" (QDRO). § 1056(d)(3)(A). The provision defines QDRO's to include certain court orders that are "made pursuant to a State domestic relations law (including a community property law)," § 1056(d)(3)(B)(ii)(II), and meet certain other requirements, §§ 1056(d)(3)(B)(i), 1056(d)(3)(C), 1056(d)(3)(D). The Government argues that this provision shows that court orders count as "alienations" prohibited under § 1056(d)(1), and that since the probate court orders effectuating Dorothy's testamentary transfers do not fall within the QDRO exception, the "anti-alienation" section, as amended and taken as a whole, pre-empts Louisiana law.
The QDRO provisions, in my view, do not support the Government's argument. The QDRO exception does not purport to interpret the "anti-alienation" provision (quoted supra, at 863). Rather, it simply says that the provision
"shall apply to the creation, assignment, or recognition of a right to any benefit payable with respect to a participant pursuant to a domestic relations order . . . ." § 1056(d)(3)(A).
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