Cite as: 526 U. S. 434 (1999)
Thomas, J., concurring in judgment
sory assertion that the Code's language is "inexact" and the history is "helpful," ante, at 444. This sort of approach to interpretation of the Bankruptcy Code repeats a methodological error committed by this Court in Dewsnup v. Timm, 502 U. S. 410 (1992).
In Dewsnup, the Court held, based on pre-Code practice, that § 506(d) of the Code prevented a Chapter 7 debtor from stripping down a creditor's lien on real property to the judicially determined value of the collateral. Id., at 419-420. The Court justified its reliance on such practice by finding the provision ambiguous. Id., at 416. Section 506 was ambiguous, in the Court's view, simply because the litigants and amici had offered competing interpretations of the statute. Ibid. This is a remarkable and untenable methodology for interpreting any statute. If litigants' differing positions demonstrate statutory ambiguity, it is hard to imagine how any provision of the Code—or any other statute—would escape Dewsnup's broad sweep. A mere disagreement among litigants over the meaning of a statute does not prove ambiguity; it usually means that one of the litigants is simply wrong. Dewsnup's approach to statutory interpretation enables litigants to undermine the Code by creating "ambiguous" statutory language and then cramming into the Code any good idea that can be garnered from pre-Code practice or legislative history.
The risks of relying on such practice in interpreting the Bankruptcy Code, which seeks to bring an entire area of law under a single, coherent statutory umbrella, are especially weighty. As we previously have recognized, the Code "was intended to modernize the bankruptcy laws, and as a result made significant changes in both the substantive and procedural laws of bankruptcy." United States v. Ron Pair Enterprises, Inc., 489 U. S. 235, 240 (1989) (citation omitted). The Code's overall scheme often reflects substantial departures from various pre-Code practices. Most relevant to this case, the Code created a system of creditor class ap-
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