Cite as: 529 U. S. 694 (2000)
Opinion of the Court
fendant incarcerated for a term as long as the original supervised release term. But that is not what Congress did. Instead of using "terminate" with the sense of finality just illustrated in subsection (1), Congress used the verb "revoke" and so at the least left the door open to a reading of subsection (3) that would not preclude further supervised release after the initial revocation.7 In fact, the phrasing of subsection (3) did more than just leave the door open to the nonpreclusive reading.
As it was written before the 1994 amendments, subsection (3) did not provide (as it now does) that the court could revoke the release term and require service of a prison term equal to the maximum authorized length of a term of supervised release. It provided, rather, that the court could "revoke a term of supervised release, and require the person to serve in prison all or part of the term of supervised release . . . ." So far as the text is concerned, it is not a "term of imprisonment" that is to be served, but all or part of "the term of supervised release." But if "the term of supervised release" is being served, in whole or part, in prison, then something about the term of supervised release survives the preceding order of revocation. While this sounds very metaphysical, the metaphysics make one thing clear: unlike a "terminated" order of supervised release, one
7 The dissent offers an erudite explanation of the different senses of the two words, intending to demonstrate that Congress displayed "an admirably precise use of language," by using "revoke" to mean "annul" and "terminate" to indicate that "[t]he supervised release is treated as fulfilled, and the sentence is complete." Post, at 717 (opinion of Scalia, J.). That is virtuoso lexicography, but it shows only that English is rich enough to give even textualists room for creative readings. This one encounters serious difficulties; the very same section of the statute (as in effect at the time of Johnson's offense) provides that if the person released is found in possession of a controlled substance, "the court shall terminate the term of supervised release and require the defendant to serve in prison not less than one-third of the term of supervised release." 18 U. S. C. § 3583(g) (1988 ed.).
705
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