Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/23-5572_l6hn.pdf
Page Number: 14

10 

FISCHER v. UNITED STATES 

Opinion of the Court 

auditor,  Arthur  Andersen  LLP,  had  systematically  de-
stroyed  potentially  incriminating  documents,”  the  statute
curiously  failed  to  “impos[e]  liability  on  a  person  who  de-
stroys records himself.”  Yates, 574 U. S., at 535–536 (plu-
rality opinion).  As a result, prosecutors had to prove that 
higher-ups at Enron and Arthur Andersen persuaded some-
one else to shred documents rather than the more obvious 
theory that someone who shreds documents is liable for do-
ing so.  See S. Rep. No. 107–146, p. 7 (2002). 

The parties agree that to plug this loophole, Congress en-
acted Section 1512(c)—the provision at issue here—as part 
of the broader Sarbanes-Oxley Act.  It would be peculiar to
conclude that in closing the Enron gap, Congress actually 
hid away in the second part of the third subsection of Sec-
tion 1512 a catchall provision that reaches far beyond the 
document  shredding  and  similar  scenarios  that  prompted 
the legislation in the first place.  The better conclusion is 
that subsection (c)(2) was designed by Congress to capture
other  forms  of  evidence  and  other  means  of  impairing  its
integrity or availability beyond those Congress specified in
(c)(1). 

B 
1 
The broader context of Section 1512 in the criminal code 
confirms that (c)(2) is limited by the scope of (c)(1).  Federal 
obstruction law consists of numerous provisions that target
specific criminal acts and settings.  See 18 U. S. C. ch. 73. 
Much of that particularized legislation would be unneces-
sary  if  (c)(2)  criminalized  essentially  all  obstructive  con-
duct, as the Government contends.  Section 1503(a), for ex-
ample, makes it a crime to “corruptly, or by threats or force, 
or by any threatening . . . communication, endeavor[ ] to in-
fluence,  intimidate,  or  impede”  any  juror  or  court  officer.
Section 1504 covers attempting to influence jurors through
written communications.  Section 1505 covers anyone who