536
Opinion of the Court
It must be acknowledged that, under our reading of the text, the word "attorney" in subsection (A) may well be surplusage. Subsection (A)'s reference to § 327 professional persons undoubtedly includes attorneys, as much as does § 330(a)(1)'s reference to professional persons. That is not controlling, however. Surplusage does not always produce ambiguity and our preference for avoiding surplusage constructions is not absolute. See Chickasaw Nation v. United States, 534 U. S. 84, 94 (2001) (the preference "is sometimes offset by the canon that permits a court to reject words 'as surplusage' if 'inadvertently inserted or if repugnant to the rest of the statute' "). Where there are two ways to read the text—either attorney is surplusage, in which case the text is plain; or attorney is nonsurplusage (i. e., it refers to an ambiguous component in § 330(a)(1)), in which case the text is ambiguous—applying the rule against surplusage is, absent other indications, inappropriate. We should prefer the plain meaning since that approach respects the words of Congress. In this manner we avoid the pitfalls that plague too quick a turn to the more controversial realm of legislative history.
B
The plain meaning that § 330(a)(1) sets forth does not lead to absurd results requiring us to treat the text as if it were ambiguous. See supra, at 534 (citing Hartford Underwriters). Petitioner disagrees and argues that our interpretation will "entail an inexplicable, wholesale departure from . . . the guiding principle of the 'prompt and effectual administration' of federal bankruptcy law." Brief for Petitioner 30. He says that our reading "attribute[s] to Congress an illogical, penny-wise and pound-foolish determination to eliminate entirely—as a purportedly asset-preserving measure—compensation that is essential to debtors' receipt of legal services." Id., at 35.
These arguments overstate the effect of § 330(a)(1). Under the text's instruction compensation remains available to
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