Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/17pdf/17-459_1o13.pdf
Page Number: 34

Cite as:  585 U. S. ____ (2018) 

7 

ALITO, J., dissenting 

they  otherwise  served  a  function  similar  to  that  now 
  See  8  U. S. C. 
to  appear). 
served  by  notices 
§1252b(a)(2)(A) (1994 ed.).

That statutory history supports the Government’s inter-
pretation  twice  over.  First,  it  demonstrates  that  when  it 
comes  to  triggering  the  stop-time  rule,  Congress  attached
no  particular  significance  to  the  presence  (or  absence)  of
information about the date and time of a removal proceed-
ing.  Congress was more than happy for the stop-time rule
to be activated either by notices to appear or by orders to 
show  cause,  even  though  the  latter  often  lacked  any  in-
formation about the date and time of proceedings.

Second, and even more important, the statutory history 
also shows that Congress clearly thought of orders to show 
cause as the functional equivalent of notices to appear for 
purposes of the stop-time rule.  After an initially confusing
reference to “notices to appear” issued before the creation 
of the stop-time rule, Congress clarified that it had meant 
to  refer  to  “orders  to  show  cause.”    By  equating  orders  to 
show  cause  with  notices  to  appear,  Congress  indicated
that when the stop-time rule refers to “a notice to appear,”
it is referring to a category of documents that do not nec-
essarily  provide  the  date  and  time  of  a  future  removal 
proceeding.3 

E 
Finally, Pereira’s contrary interpretation leads to conse-
quences  that  clash  with  any  conceivable  statutory  pur-
pose.  Pereira’s  interpretation  would  require  the  Govern-
ment to include a date and time on every notice to appear
that it issues.  But at the moment, the Government lacks 
the  ability  to  do  that  with  any  degree  of  accuracy.    The 
—————— 

3 Although the Court charges me with “compar[ing] apples to oranges,” 
ante,  at  15,  n. 9,  Congress  was  the  one  that  equated  orders  to  show 
cause  and  notices  to  appear  for  purposes  of  the  stop-time  rule.    By
ignoring that decision, the Court rewrites the statute to its taste.