Cite as: 537 U. S. 293 (2003)
Opinion of the Court
of Breyer, J.). Instead, it determines, in splendid isolation from that language,3 the purpose of the statute, which it takes to be "to forbid discrimination against those who are, or were, in bankruptcy and, more generally, to prohibit governmental action that would undercut the 'fresh start' that is bankruptcy's promise," post, at 313. It deduces these language-trumping "purposes" from the most inconclusive of indications. First, the ambiguous title of § 525(a), "Protection against discriminatory treatment," ibid. This, of course, could as well refer to discrimination against impending bankruptcy, aka insolvency. Second, its perception that the other prohibitions of § 525(a) apply only to acts "done solely for bankruptcy-related reasons." Ibid. We do not share that perception. For example, the prohibition immediately preceding the one at issue here forbids adverse government action taken because the debtor "has been insolvent before the commencement of the case under this title, or during the case but before the debtor is granted or denied a discharge." That seems to us clearly tied to insolvency alone (plus the mere fact of subsequent or contemporaneous bankruptcy), and does not require some additional motivation based on bankruptcy. The dissent's third indication of "purpose" consists of the ever-available snippets of legislative history, post, at 314-315.
The dissent does eventually get to the statutory text at issue here: Step two of its analysis is to ask what interpretation of that text could possibly fulfill its posited "purposes." 4
3 The portion of the dissenting opinion that deduces the statute's purposes, Part II, post, at 313-315, contains no discussion of the portion of § 525(a) at issue here.
4 The second of the purposes, by the way—prohibiting government action that "would undercut the 'fresh start' that is bankruptcy's promise," post, at 313—plays no real role in the dissent's analysis, if indeed such a circular criterion could ever play a role in any analysis. The whole issue before us can be described as asking what the Bankruptcy Code's promise of a "fresh start" consists of. Rather than reframing the question, our interpretation concretely accords a "fresh start" where the dissent would
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