Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/17pdf/16-980_f2q3.pdf
Page Number: 36

Cite as:  584 U. S. ____ (2018) 

9 

BREYER, J., dissenting 

tion  Procedure  alone  cannot  count  as  statutorily  signifi-
cant?    The  statute’s  basic  structure  along  with  its  lan-
guage makes clear that this is so. 
  In  respect  to  language,  §8  says  that  the  function  of 
subsection (d)’s Confirmation Procedure is “to confirm the 
change of address” whenever the State has already “iden-
tif[ied]  registrants  whose  addresses  may  have  changed.”  
§§20507(c)(1)(A), (d)(2).  The function of the Confirmation 
Procedure is not to make the initial identification of regis-
trants whose addresses may have changed.  As a matter of 
English usage, you cannot confirm that an event happened 
without  already  having  some  reason  to  believe  at  least 
that it might have happened.  Black’s Law Dictionary 298 
(6th  ed.  1990)  (defining  “confirm”  as  meaning  “[t]o  com-
plete or establish that which was imperfect or uncertain”). 
  Ohio,  of  course,  says  that  it  has  a  ground  for  believing 
that  those  persons  they  remove  from  the  rolls  have,  in 
fact, changed their address, but the ground is the fact that 
the  person  did  not  vote—the  very  thing  that  the  Failure-
to-Vote Clause forbids Ohio to use as a basis for removing 
a registered voter from the registration roll. 
  In respect to structure, two statutory illustrations make 
clear  what  the  word  “confirm”  already  suggests,  namely, 
that  the  Confirmation  Procedure  is  a  necessary  but  not  a 
sufficient  procedure  for  removing  a  registered  voter  from 
the voter roll.  The first illustration of how the Confirma-
tion  Procedure  is  supposed to function  appears  in  subsec-
tion  (c),  which  describes  a  removal  process  under  which 
the  State  first  identifies  registrants  who  have  likely 
changed  addresses  and  then  “confirm[s]”  that  change  of 
residence  using  the  Confirmation  Procedure  and  sending 
the  required  “last  chance”  notice.    §20507(c)(1)  (emphasis 
added).    The  identification  method  subsection  (c)  says  a 
State  may  use  is  “change-of-address  information  supplied 
by the Postal Service.”  §20507(c)(1)(A).  A person does not 
notify  the  Postal  Service  that  he  is  moving  unless  he  is