Cite as: 529 U. S. 694 (2000)
Scalia, J., dissenting
* * *
This is not an important case, since it deals with the interpretation of a statute that has been amended to eliminate, for the future, the issue we today resolve. But an institution that is careless in small things is more likely to be careless in large ones; and an institution that is willful in small things is almost certain to be willful in large ones. The fact that nothing but the Court's views of policy and "congressional purpose" supports today's judgment is a matter of great concern, if only because of what it tells district and circuit judges. The overwhelming majority of the Courts of Appeals—9 out of 11—notwithstanding what they might have viewed as the more desirable policy arrangement, reached the result unambiguously demanded by the statutory text. See ante, at 698, n. 2. Today's decision invites them to return to headier days of not-too-yore, when laws meant what judges knew they ought to mean. I dissent.
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