Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/14pdf/13-7451_m64o.pdf
Page Number: 17

14 

YATES v. UNITED STATES 

Opinion of GINSBURG, J. 

document”—also  cabin  the  contextual  meaning  of  that 
term.  As  explained  in  Gustafson  v.  Alloyd  Co.,  513  U. S. 
561,  575  (1995),  we  rely  on  the  principle  of  noscitur  a 
sociis—a  word  is  known  by  the  company  it  keeps—to 
“avoid ascribing to one word a meaning so broad that it is 
inconsistent  with  its  accompanying  words,  thus  giving 
unintended  breadth  to  the  Acts  of  Congress.” 
(internal
quotation  marks  omitted).    See  also  United  States  v.  Wil-
liams,  553  U. S.  285,  294  (2008)  (“a  word  is  given  more 
precise content by the neighboring words with which it is
associated”). 
In  Gustafson,  we  interpreted  the  word 
“communication” in §2(10) of the Securities Act of 1933 to
refer to a public communication, rather than any commu-
nication,  because  the  word  appeared  in  a  list  with  other 
words,  notably  “notice,  circular,  [and]  advertisement,” 
making  it  “apparent  that  the  list  refer[red]  to  documents
of wide dissemination.”  513 U. S., at 575–576.  And we did 
so even though the list began with the word “any.”

The noscitur a sociis canon operates in a similar manner 
here.  “Tangible  object”  is  the  last  in  a  list  of  terms  that
begins  “any  record  [or]  document.”    The  term  is  therefore 
appropriately read to refer, not to any tangible object, but 
specifically  to  the  subset  of  tangible  objects  involving 
records  and  documents,  i.e.,  objects  used  to  record  or 
See  United  States  Sentencing
preserve  information. 
Commission,  Guidelines  Manual  §2J1.2,  comment.,  n. 1 
(Nov.  2014)  (“ ‘Records,  documents,  or  tangible  objects’ 
includes  (A)  records,  documents,  or  tangible  objects  that
are stored on, or that are, magnetic, optical, digital, other
electronic,  or  other  storage  mediums  or  devices;  and  (B)
wire or electronic communications.”).

This moderate interpretation of “tangible object” accords
with  the  list  of  actions  §1519  proscribes.  The  section 
applies  to  anyone  who  “alters,  destroys,  mutilates,  con-
ceals,  covers  up,  falsifies,  or  makes  a  false  entry  in  any
record,  document,  or  tangible  object”  with  the  requisite