Cite as: 537 U. S. 129 (2003)
Opinion of the Court
piro, 455 U. S. 345, 360 (1982) ("A statute granting a privilege is to be strictly construed so as 'to avoid a construction that would suppress otherwise competent evidence' " (quoting St. Regis Paper Co. v. United States, 368 U. S. 208, 218 (1961)). See also, e. g., University of Pennsylvania v. EEOC, 493 U. S. 182, 189 (1990). See generally United States v. Nixon, 418 U. S. 683 (1974). Here, § 409 establishes a privilege; accordingly, to the extent the text of the statute permits, we must construe it narrowly.
Of the three interpretations outlined above, respondents' clearly gives the statute the narrowest application. Nevertheless, we decline to adopt it, as that reading would render the 1995 amendment to § 409 (changing the language from "compiled" to "compiled or collected") an exercise in futility. We have said before that, "[w]hen Congress acts to amend a statute, we presume it intends its amendment to have real and substantial effect." Stone v. INS, 514 U. S. 386, 397 (1995). Yet, under respondents' view, § 409 as amended in 1995 would protect from disclosure only information that was already protected before the amendment, i. e., information generated for § 152 purposes. That reading gives the amendment no "real and substantial effect" and, accordingly, cannot be the proper understanding of the statute.
Petitioner's reading, by contrast, while permissible, gives the statute too broad of a reach given the language of the statute, thus conflicting with our rule that, when possible, privileges should be construed narrowly. See, e. g., Baldrige, supra, at 360.
The interpretation proposed by the Government, however, suffers neither of these faults. It gives effect to the 1995 amendment by making clear that § 409 protects not just the information an agency generates, i. e., compiles, for § 152 purposes, but also any information that an agency collects from other sources for § 152 purposes. And, it also takes a narrower view of the privilege by making it inapplicable to information compiled or collected for purposes unrelated to
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