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2 

FISCHER v. UNITED STATES 

JACKSON, J., concurring 

Notwithstanding the shocking circumstances involved in 
this case or the Government’s determination that they war-
rant  prosecution,  today,  this  Court’s  task  is  to  determine 
what conduct is proscribed by the criminal statute that has 
been invoked as the basis for the obstruction charge at issue 
here.  I join in the Court’s opinion because I agree with the
majority  that  §1512(c)(2)  does  not  reach  “ ‘all  forms  of  ob-
structive conduct’ ” and is, instead, “limited by the preced-
ing list of criminal violations” in §1512(c)(1).  Ante, at 7–8. 
I write separately to explain why and how that interpreta-
tion  of  §1512(c)  follows  from  the  legislative  purpose  that 
this statute’s text embodies. 

I 
Our  goal  in  interpreting  any  statute  should  be  “to  give
effect to the intent of Congress.”  United States v. American 
Trucking Assns., Inc., 310 U. S. 534, 542 (1940).  There is 
no question that intent is generally expressed through the 
text of a statute.  See American Tobacco Co. v. Patterson, 
456  U. S.  63,  68  (1982).    “[H]ewing  closely  to  Congress’s 
will” as embodied in the statute that it wrote “is especially 
important” when construing laws like this one, which im-
plicate the possible imposition of punitive sanctions.  Pugin 
v. Garland, 599 U. S. 600, 612 (2023) (JACKSON, J., concur-
ring).

[that]  come  before” 

Here,  the  majority  rightly  interprets  the  scope  of
§1512(c)(2)  by  “look[ing]  for  guidance  from”  the  statutory 
“examples 
in 
§1512(c)(1).  Ante, at 5.  In my view, the examples that Con-
gress opts to include in the text of a statute evince its inten-
tions concerning what the rule covers and thereby help ex-
press a particular legislative purpose.

it—those 

listed 

The majority’s football-based example is illustrative.  In 
a  football  league,  says  the  majority,  “a  rule  that  players
must not ‘grab, twist, or pull a facemask, helmet, or other 
equipment with the intent to injure a player, or otherwise