Cite as: 525 U. S. 366 (1999)
Opinion of Thomas, J.
B
Moreover, I cannot see how § 201(b) represents an "unambiguous" grant of authority that is sufficient to overcome § 2(b)'s jurisdictional fence. In my view, the majority's interpretation of § 201(b) necessarily implies that Congress sub silentio rendered § 2(b) a nullity by extending federal law to cover intrastate telecommunications. That conclusion is simply untenable in light of the fact that § 2(b) is written in the disjunctive. Section 2(b), 47 U. S. C. § 152(b), provides that "nothing in this chapter shall be construed to apply to or to give the Commission jurisdiction with respect to" intrastate telecommunications service. (Emphasis added.) Contrary to the majority's suggestion, ante, at 380, there is nothing "subtle" or "imaginative" about the principle that "[i]n construing a statute we are obliged to give effect, if possible, to every word Congress used. Canons of construction ordinarily suggest that terms connected by a disjunctive be given separate meanings, unless the context dictates otherwise . . . ." Reiter v. Sonotone Corp., 442 U. S. 330, 339 (1979) (citation omitted). Nor is the majority correct that Louisiana Pub. Serv. Comm'n v. FCC supports its reading of § 2(b). Indeed, the disjunctive structure of the provision led us to conclude in Louisiana that § 2(b) contains both "a rule of statutory construction" and a "substantive jurisdictional limitation on the FCC's power." 476 U. S., at 372-373. It follows that we should give independent legal significance to each. Thus, it is not enough for the majority simply to demonstrate that the 1996 Act "appl[ies] to" intrastate services; it must also point to "unambiguous" and "straightforward" evidence that Congress intended to eliminate § 2(b)'s "substantive jurisdictional limitation."
This they cannot do. Nothing in the 1996 Act eliminates § 2(b)'s jurisdictional fence. Congress has elsewhere demonstrated that it knows how to exempt certain provisions from
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