Court Opinion

ID: 9476291
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:52:18.159028+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:45:13.994413
License: Public Domain

WALLACE, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I concur in all but part B of the majority’s persuasive and exhaustively researched opinion. My sole concern regarding part B is that, once we have determined from the statute’s plain meaning that the statute does not refer to honorary consuls, examination of the statute’s legislative history should be unnecessary. “ ‘[W]hen we find the terms of a statute unambiguous, *1038judicial inquiry is complete.’ ” Burlington Northern Railroad Co. v. Oklahoma Tax Commission, — U.S.-, 107 S.Ct. 1855, 1860, 95 L.Ed.2d 404 (1987), quoting Rubin v. United States, 449 U.S. 424, 430, 101 S.Ct. 698, 701, 66 L.Ed.2d 633 (1981); see also Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill, 437 U.S. 153, 184 n. 29, 98 S.Ct. 2279, 2296 n. 29, 57 L.Ed.2d 117 (1978); Blum v. Stenson, 465 U.S. 886, 896, 104 S.Ct. 1541, 1547, 79 L.Ed.2d 891 (1984) (“we look first to the statutory language and then to the legislative history if the statutory language is unclear.”) (emphasis added); Mobil Sales & Supply Corp. v. Panamax Venus, 804 F.2d 541, 542 (9th Cir.1986). I believe that, having concluded that the plain meaning of the statute does not refer to honorary consuls, we need go no further.