Cite as: 537 U. S. 293 (2003)
Breyer, J., dissenting
sense through analogy, imagining, for example, a regulatory rule telling apartment owners that they cannot refuse to rent "solely because a family has children who are adopted" (which, notwithstanding the majority's complex discussion of "destructive children," ante, at 306, seems linguistically comparable). This language suggests the need for a connection between (1) the fact of adoption and (2) the refusal (thereby exempting an owner who accepts no children at all). Is it not, like the statute's language, at least open to such an interpretation? That is the linguistic point. It opens the door to a consideration of context and purpose—which, in any event, are relevant to determine whether the statute contains an implicit exemption, see supra, at 317.
Finally, the majority points out that, in the wake of a complicated procedural history, these cases are now not about "enforcement of [a security] interest in" the Bankruptcy Court. Ante, at 307, and n. 5. But the majority's interpretation certainly seems to cover that circumstance, and more. Under the majority's understanding, a government creditor who seeks to enforce a security interest in a broadcasting license (after the bankruptcy stay has been lifted or after bankruptcy proceedings terminate) would be seeking to re-possess, and thereby to revoke, that license "solely because" of the debtor's failure to pay a "dischargeable" debt. After all, under such circumstances, "failure to pay" the debt that is in fact dischargeable would "alone be the proximate cause" of the government's action. Ante, at 301. It is "the act or event that triggers the agency's decision to cancel, whatever the agency's ultimate motive." Ante, at 301-302.
If I am right about this, the majority's interpretation means that private creditors, say, car dealers, can enforce security interests in the goods that they sell, namely, cars, but governments cannot enforce security interests in items that they sell, namely, licenses. (Whether a private party can "take and enforce a security interest in an FCC license," ante, at 307, is beside this particular point.)
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