Opinion ID: 487400
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Timing of Revocation

Text: 26 Petitioner argues that although section 306(a)(2) required the President ten days after the Act's enactment to direct the Secretary to revoke SAA's permit, the section is silent as to when such revocation is to take place. Therefore, the Secretary could have timed the actual suspension of the permit to coincide with the termination of the Agreement. While this is true in the literal sense, it is impossible to reconcile such a construction with other provisions of section 306 that compel the conclusion that Congress intended to terminate air service to the United States by South African carriers without regard to the one-year notice required for termination of the Agreement. Subsection 306(a)(1) required the President to immediately notify (emphasis added) the South African government of his intention to suspend such service, and subsection 306(a)(2) called for him to direct the Secretary ten days later to revoke the right of any carrier designated by the government of South Africa to provide air service pursuant to the Agreement. Given the evident urgency of those instructions, it is hard to believe that Congress intended the Secretary to wait another 365 days before actually suspending petitioner's permit. 27 Furthermore, both the circumstances of the enactment of section 306(a) and the accompanying debate make it impossible to reach any conclusion other than that Congress intended the expeditious suspension of SAA's permit. In its original form, section 306 went no further than to direct termination of the Agreement on its own terms. Therefore, the actual suspension of SAA's landing rights would not have occurred for another year. It was for the express purpose of accelerating that suspension that Senators Sarbanes and Kassebaum introduced section 306(a) as an amendment to the version of the Anti-Apartheid Act submitted by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In presenting the amendment, Senator Sarbanes stated: 28 The amendment that the Senator from Kansas and I have offered would bring a suspension of air service 10 days after the enactment of the legislation. It would have the President notify South African authorities of his intention to suspend and 10 days later, the suspension would take effect. 29 132 Cong.Rec. S11,712 (daily ed. Aug. 14, 1986). 30 Although senators spoke both in favor of and against the amendment, none questioned that its effect would be immediate. Committee Chairman Lugar, for example, strongly opposed the amendment on the explicit ground that in his judgment the revocation would violate the Agreement. At the same time, he reiterated his approval of the Act's original provision, in what is now section 306(b), that would have limited the sanction to giving South Africa the one year's notice of termination required by the Agreement. 132 Cong.Rec. S11, 714. Thus his subsequent vote to table the amendment could only have confirmed his understanding of the immediacy of its effect. 31 We conclude that the clear meaning of the amendment coupled with the absence of any contrary view in the legislative record requires the conclusion that Congress intended the Secretary to give immediate effect to its mandate. 32