Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/529bv.pdf
Page Number: 790

529US3

Unit: $U56

[09-28-01 09:22:19] PAGES PGT: OPIN

Cite as: 529 U. S. 694 (2000)

715

Scalia, J., dissenting

With these observations I join the opinion of the Court,
save for its parenthetical discussion of § 3583(e)(2), ante, at
712, and its dictum regarding § 3583(a), ante, at 708.

Justice Thomas, concurring in the judgment.
I agree with the Court’s textual analysis of 18 U. S. C.
§ 3583(e)(3) (1988 ed., Supp. V), and think that analysis sufﬁ-
I agree with Justice Kennedy
cient to resolve this case.
that the Court’s discussions of § 3583(a), ante, at 707–708, and
§ 3583(e)(2), ante, at 712, are unnecessary to the result.
I
would not rely, as the Court (ante, at 708–710) and Justice
Kennedy (ante this page (opinion concurring in part)) do, on
any apparent congressional purpose supporting the Court’s
reading of § 3583(e)(3). With these observations, I concur in
the judgment.

Justice Scalia, dissenting.
I agree with Parts I and II of the Court’s opinion, and
thus, like the Court, believe that the case ultimately turns
on the meaning of 18 U. S. C. § 3583(e)(3) (1988 ed., Supp. V).
I do not agree, however, with the Court’s interpretation of
that provision. The section provides that when the condi-
tions of supervised release are violated, the court may “re-
voke a term of supervised release, and require the person to
serve in prison all or part of the term of supervised release
without credit for time previously served on postrelease su-
pervision.” Finding in this an authorization for imposition
of additional supervised release is an act of willpower rather
than of judgment.

The term “revoke” is not deﬁned by the statute, and thus
should be construed “in accordance with its ordinary or natu-
ral meaning.” FDIC v. Meyer, 510 U. S. 471, 476 (1994). As
the Court recognizes, the ordinary meaning of “revoke” is
“ ‘to annul by recalling or taking back.’ ” Ante, at 704 (quot-
ing Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 1944
(1981)); see also American Heritage Dictionary 1545 (3d ed.