Cite as: 526 U. S. 1 (1999)
Opinion of the Court
Two considerations strongly support the conclusion that a natural reading of the text is fully consistent with a congressional decision to cover both species of intent. First, the statute as a whole reflects an intent to authorize federal prosecutions as a significant deterrent to a type of criminal activity that was a matter of national concern.7 Because that purpose is better served by construing the statute to cover both the conditional and the unconditional species of wrongful intent, the entire statute is consistent with a normal interpretation of the specific language that Congress chose. See John Hancock Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Harris Trust and Sav. Bank, 510 U. S. 86, 94-95 (1993) (statutory language should be interpreted consonant with "the provisions of the whole law, and . . . its object and policy" (internal quotation marks omitted)). Indeed, petitioner's interpretation would exclude from the coverage of the statute most of the conduct that Congress obviously intended to prohibit.
Second, it is reasonable to presume that Congress was familiar with the cases and the scholarly writing that have recognized that the "specific intent" to commit a wrongful act may be conditional. See Cannon v. University of Chicago, 441 U. S. 677, 696-698 (1979). The facts of the leading case on the point are strikingly similar to the facts of this case. In People v. Connors, 253 Ill. 266, 97 N. E. 643 (1912),
7 Although the legislative history relating to the carjacking amendment is sparse, those members of Congress who recorded comments made statements reflecting the statute's broad deterrent purpose. See 139 Cong. Rec. 27867 (1993) (statement of Sen. Lieberman) ("Th[e 1994] amendment will broaden and strengthen th[e] [carjacking] law so our U. S. attorneys will have every possible tool available to them to attack the problem"); 140 Cong. Rec. E858 (May 5, 1994) (extension of remarks by Rep. Franks) ("We must send a message to [carjackers] that committing a violent crime will carry a severe penalty"). There is nothing in the 1994 amendment's legislative history to suggest that Congress meant to create a federal crime for only the unique and unusual subset of carjackings in which the offender intends to harm or kill the driver regardless of whether the driver accedes to the offender's threat of violence.
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