468
Stevens, J., dissenting
tract provided that Jericol would assume responsibility for Shackleford's outstanding contracts, including its collective-bargaining agreement. App. 23, 26. The price Jericol paid for Shackleford's assets, therefore, must have reflected the fact that Jericol was taking on Shackleford's commitments to its retirees. By allowing Jericol to escape responsibility for its end of the bargain at this stage, the Court effectively grants it a windfall.
While the Court trumpets the clear language of the statute, the language here is not clear enough to require disregard of "clearly expressed legislative intention to the contrary," Consumer Product Safety Comm'n v. GTE Sylvania, Inc., 447 U. S. 102, 108 (1980), or to require us to accept "absurd results," United States v. Turkette, 452 U. S. 576, 580 (1981) (citing Trans Alaska Pipeline Rate Cases, 436 U. S. 631, 643 (1978)). See infra, at 469-470. Nevertheless, the Court accepts respondents' claim that, even if the statute produces odd results, this scheme is the product of a legislative compromise that we cannot override. The drafters, according to this theory, may have confronted significant opposition from successors of signatories who would have faced liability under alternative language. Or Congress may have been concerned that imposing liability on successors would create a disincentive for potential purchasers of coal companies' assets.
If the negotiations were as contentious as respondents imagine and if the Act excluded direct successors as the product of horsetrading, then one would expect a response to the statements of two Senators directly contradicting the terms of that legislative bargain. Surely those Senators who disagreed with Senators Rockefeller and Wallop would have said something to set the record straight. To the contrary, there is no evidence in the legislative history of such a compromise. Respondents and amici do not cite any evidence supporting this version of events, nor could respond-
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