182
Scalia, J., dissenting
B
Post-October 1, 1993, initial assignments can also not be reconciled with the Coal Act's provisions regarding appointments to the board of trustees. Section 9702(b)(1)(B) establishes for the Combined Fund a board of seven members, one of whom is to be "designated by the three employers . . . who have been assigned the greatest number of eligible benefici-aries under section 9706." The Act provides for an "initial trustee" to fill this position pending completion of the assignment process, but § 9702(b)(3)(B) permits this initial trustee to serve only "until November 1, 1993." It is evident, therefore, that the "three employers . . . who have been assigned the greatest number of eligible beneficiaries under section 9706" must be known by November 1, 1993. It is simply inconceivable that the three appointing employers were to be unknown (and the post left unfilled) until the Commissioner completes an open-ended assignment process—whenever that might be; or that the designated trustee is constantly to change, as the identity of the "three employers . . . who have been assigned the greatest number of eligible beneficiaries under section 9706" constantly changes.
V
At bottom, the Court's reading of the Coal Act—its confi-dent filling in of provisions to cover "cases not provided for"—rests upon its perception that the statute's overriding goal is accuracy in assignments. That is a foundation of sand. The Coal Act is demonstrably not a scheme that requires, or even attempts to require, a perfect match between each beneficiary and the coal operator most responsible for that beneficiary's health care. It provides, at best, rough justice; seemingly unfair and inequitable provisions abound.
When, for example, an operator goes out of business, § 9704(f)(2)(B) provides that beneficiaries previously assigned to that operator must go into the unassigned pool for purposes of calculating the "applicable percentage." It
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