Cite as: 537 U. S. 293 (2003)
Opinion of the Court
ously true here: The government may take action that is otherwise forbidden when the debt in question is one of the disfavored class that is nondischargeable.
In addition to distorting the text of the provision, the dissent's interpretation renders the provision superfluous. The purpose of "forbid[ding] discrimination against those who are, or were, in bankruptcy," post, at 313, is already explicitly achieved by another portion of § 525(a), which prohibits termination of a license "solely because [the] bankrupt or debtor is or has been . . . a bankrupt or debtor under the Bankruptcy Act." 11 U. S. C. § 525(a) (emphasis added). The dissent would have us believe that the language "solely because [the] bankrupt or debtor . . . has not paid a debt that is dischargeable" merely achieves the very same objective through inappropriate language. We think Congress meant what it said: The government is not to revoke a bankruptcy debtor's license solely because of a failure to pay his debts.
The dissent makes much of the "serious anomaly" that would arise from permitting "every car salesman, every residential home developer, every appliance company [to] threaten repossession of its product if a buyer does not pay," but denying that power to the government alone, post, at 312. It is by no means clear than any anomaly exists. The car salesman, residential home developer, etc., can obtain re-possession of his product only (as the dissent acknowledges) "if [he] has taken a security interest in the product," ibid. It is neither clear that a private party can take and enforce a security interest in an FCC license, see, e. g., In re Cheskey, 9 FCC Rcd. 986, ¶ 8 (1994), nor that the FCC cannot. (As we described in our statement of facts, the FCC purported to take such a security interest in the present cases. What is at issue, however, is not the enforcement of that interest in the bankruptcy process,5 but rather elimination of the li-5 The FCC initially participated in the bankruptcy proceedings as a creditor. See, e. g., In re NextWave Personal Communications, Inc., 235
307
Page: Index Previous 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007