336
Scalia, J., dissenting
spect for the legislature," Ex parte Randolph, 20 F. Cas. 242, 254 (No. 11,558) (CC Va. 1833) (Marshall, C. J., on circuit), into a means of thwarting the clearly expressed intent of the legislature. The doctrine of constitutional doubt is meant to effectuate, not to subvert, congressional intent, by giving ambiguous provisions a meaning that will avoid constitutional peril, and that will conform with Congress's presumed intent not to enact measures of dubious validity. The condition precedent for application of the doctrine is that the statute can reasonably be construed to avoid the constitutional difficulty. See, e. g., Miller v. French, 530 U. S. 327, 341 (2000) (" 'We cannot press statutory construction "to the point of disingenuous evasion" even to avoid a constitutional question' " (quoting United States v. Locke, 471 U. S. 84, 96 (1985), in turn quoting George Moore Ice Cream Co. v. Rose, 289 U. S. 373, 379 (1933))); Salinas v. United States, 522 U. S. 52, 60 (1997) (quoting Seminole Tribe of Fla. v. Florida, 517 U. S. 44, 57, n. 9 (1996)). It is a device for interpreting what the statute says—not for ignoring what the statute says in order to avoid the trouble of determining whether what it says is unconstitutional. For the reasons I have set forth above, it is crystal clear that the statute before us here bars criminal aliens from obtaining judicial review, including § 2241 district-court review, of their removal orders. It is therefore also crystal clear that the doctrine of constitutional doubt has no application.
In the remainder of this opinion I address the question the Court should have addressed: Whether these provisions of IIRIRA are unconstitutional.
II
A
The Suspension Clause of the Constitution, Art. I, § 9, cl. 2, provides as follows:
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