Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/17pdf/17-459_1o13.pdf
Page Number: 32.0

Cite as:  585 U. S. ____ (2018) 

5 

ALITO, J., dissenting 

tions inconsistent with the statute’s text. 

That  use  of  the  word  “under”  perfectly  fits  the  Govern-
ment’s  interpretation  of  the  stop-time  rule.    The  Govern-
ment  served  Pereira  with  a  notice  to  appear  “under” 
§1229(a)  in  the  sense  that  the  notice  was  “authorized  by” 
that provision, which states that a notice to appear “shall
be given” to an alien in a removal proceeding and outlines
several rules governing such notices.  On that reasonable 
reading, the phrase “under section 1229(a)” acts as short-
hand for the type of document governed by §1229(a). 

C 

That  interpretation  is  bolstered  by  the  stop-time  rule’s 
cross-reference to “section 1229(a).”  §1229b(d)(1).  Pereira 
interprets  that  cross-reference  as  picking  up  every  sub-
stantive  requirement  that  applies  to  notices  to  appear. 
But  those  substantive  requirements  are  found  only  in
§1229(a)(1).  Thus, the cross-reference to “section 1229(a),” 
as  opposed  to  “section  1229(a)(1),”  tends  to  undermine
Pereira’s  interpretation,  because  if  Congress  had  meant
for  the  stop-time  rule  to  incorporate  the  substantive  re-
quirements  located  in  §1229(a)(1),  it  presumably  would
have  referred  specifically  to  that  provision  and  not  more 
generally to “section 1229(a).”  We normally presume that 
“[w]hen  Congress  want[s]  to  refer  only  to  a  particular
subsection  or  paragraph,  it  [says]  so,”  NLRB  v.  SW  Gen-
eral, Inc., 580 U. S. ___, ___ (2017) (slip op., at 9), and it is
instructive  that  neighboring  statutory  provisions  in  this
case  are  absolutely  riddled  with  such  specific  cross-
references.1   In  the  stop-time  rule,  however,  Congress
chose to insert a broader cross-reference, one that refers to 
the  general  process  of  serving  notices  to  appear  as  a 
—————— 

1 See,  e.g.,  §1229a(b)(5)(A)  (“paragraph  (1)  . . .  of  section  1229(a)”);
§1229a(b)(5)(C)(ii)  (same);  §1229a(b)(7)  (same);  §1229a(b)(5)(B)  (“ad-
dress  required  under  section  1229(a)(1)(F)”);  see  also  §1229a(b)(7) 
(referring to §1229(a)(1)(G)(i)’s “time and place” requirement).