726
Opinion of Stevens, J.
of ambiguous language in the National Labor Relations Act is entitled to deference.6 See NLRB v. Health Care and Retirement Corporation, 511 U. S. 571, 579 (1994) (HCR); Auciello Iron Works, Inc. v. NLRB, 517 U. S. 781, 787-788 (1996); Curtin Matheson Scientific, Inc., 494 U. S., at 786- 787. Such deference is particularly appropriate when the statutory ambiguity is compounded by the use of one ambiguous term—"independent judgment"—to modify another, equally ambiguous term—namely, "responsibly to direct."
Moreover, since Congress has expressly provided that professional employees are entitled to the protection of the Act, there is good reason to resolve the ambiguities consistently with the Board's interpretation. At the same time that Congress acted to exclude supervisors from the NLRA's protection, it explicitly extended those same protections to professionals, who, by definition, engage in work that involves "the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment in its performance." 7 29 U. S. C. § 152(12)(a)(ii). As this Court has acknowledged, the inclusion of professional employees and the exclusion of supervisors necessarily gives rise to some tension in the statutory text. Cf. NLRB v. Yeshiva Univ., 444 U. S. 672, 686 (1980). Accordingly, if the term "supervisor" is construed too broadly, without regard for the statutory context, then Congress' inclusion of profes-6 The majority suggests that the Board's interpretation of the term "independent judgment" is particularly problematic in light of this Court's decision in NLRB v. Health Care & Retirement Corp. of America, 511 U. S. 571 (1994) (HCR). But in HCR, this Court concluded that the terms "independent judgment" and "responsibly to direct" were ambiguous, while the term at issue in that case, "in the interest of the employer," was not. Id., at 579.
7 As the American Nurses Association points out in its amicus brief, the scope of nursing practice routinely involves the exercise of judgment and the supervision of others. Brief for American Nurses Association as Amicus Curiae 2-6.
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