Cite as: 522 U. S. 398 (1998)
Ginsburg, J., concurring in judgment
In response to the Secretary's request, Congress amended the statute in 1934 to include the language that formed the basis for Brogan's prosecution. See Hubbard v. United States, 514 U. S. 695, 707 (1995) ("We have repeatedly recognized that the 1934 Act was passed at the behest of 'the Secretary of the Interior to aid the enforcement of laws relating to the functions of the Department of the Interior.' ") (quoting United States v. Gilliland, 312 U. S., at 93-94). Since 1934, the statute, the relevant part of which remains the same today,4 has prohibited the making of "any false or fraudulent statements or representations . . . in any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States or of any corporation in which the United States of America is a stockholder." Act of June 18, 1934, ch. 587, § 35, 48 Stat. 996.
As the lower courts that developed the "exculpatory no" doctrine concluded, the foregoing history demonstrates that § 1001's "purpose was to protect the Government from the affirmative, aggressive and voluntary actions of persons who take the initiative; and to protect the Government from being the victim of some positive statement which has the tendency and effect of perverting normal and proper governmental activities and functions." Paternostro v. United States, 311 F. 2d 298, 302 (CA5 1962); accord, United States v. Stark, 131 F. Supp. 190, 205 (Md. 1955). True, "the 1934 amendment, which added the current statutory language, was not limited by any specific set of circumstances that may have precipitated its passage." United States v. Rodgers, 466 U. S. 475, 480 (1984). Yet it is noteworthy that Congress enacted that amendment to address concerns quite far removed from suspects' false denials of criminal misconduct, in the course of informal interviews initiated by Government
4 Congress separated the false claims from the false statements provisions in the 1948 recodification, see Act of June 25, 1948, §§ 287, 1001, 62 Stat. 698, 749, and made unrelated substantive changes in 1996, see False Statements Accountability Act of 1996, Pub. L. 104-292, 110 Stat. 3459.
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