Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/14pdf/13-7451_m64o.pdf
Page Number: 40.0

Cite as:  574 U. S. ___ (2015) 

13 

KAGAN, J., dissenting 

day language Congress chose.

As  an  initial  matter,  this  Court  uses  noscitur  a  sociis 
and  ejusdem  generis  to  resolve  ambiguity,  not  create  it. 
Those  principles  are  “useful  rule[s]  of  construction  where
words are of obscure or doubtful meaning.”  Russell Motor 
Car  Co.  v.  United  States,  261  U.  S.  514,  520  (1923).    But 
when  words  have  a  clear  definition,  and  all  other  contex-
tual  clues  support  that  meaning,  the  canons  cannot 
properly  defeat  Congress’s  decision  to  draft  broad  legisla-
tion.  See, e.g., Ali, 552 U. S., at 227 (rejecting the invoca-
tion  of  these  canons  as  an  “attempt  to  create  ambiguity 
where the statute’s text and structure suggest none”).

Anyway,  assigning  “tangible  object”  its  ordinary  mean-
ing  comports  with  noscitur  a  sociis  and  ejusdem  generis
when applied, as they should be, with attention to §1519’s
subject  and  purpose.  Those  canons  require  identifying  a
common  trait  that  links  all  the  words  in  a  statutory 
phrase.  See, e.g., Graham County Soil and Water Conser-
vation Dist. v. United States ex rel. Wilson, 559 U. S. 280, 
289, n. 7 (2010); Ali, 552 U. S., at 224–226.  In responding
to  that  demand,  the  plurality  characterizes  records  and 
documents  as  things  that  preserve  information—and  so
they  are.  But  just  as  much,  they  are  things  that  provide 
information,  and  thus  potentially  serve  as  evidence  rele-
vant to matters under review.  And in a statute pertaining
to  obstruction  of  federal  investigations,  that  evidentiary
function comes to the fore.  The destruction of records and 
documents prevents law enforcement agents  from gather-
ing facts relevant to official inquiries.  And so too does the 
destruction of tangible objects—of whatever kind.  Whether 
the  item  is  a  fisherman’s  ledger  or  an  undersized  fish,
throwing  it  overboard  has  the  identical  effect  on  the  ad-
ministration  of  justice.  See  supra,  at  7.  For  purposes  of
§1519,  records,  documents,  and  (all)  tangible  objects  are 
therefore alike. 

Indeed,  even  the  plurality  can’t  fully  credit  its  nosci-