Yates v. United States (2015)

[Donerail]

A tangible object is a tangible object. Perhaps the legislators did not intend such a meaning, but the Court has admitted, time after time, that they ought not read legislative intention into law.

Justice Ginsburg is not "read[ing] legislative intention into law," she is merely bothering to read the words in the rest of the sentence and the surrounding sections. Words do not have fixed meanings; they can vary based on the context in which they are used. Statutes, in particular, are often prone to using language in unusual ways that cannot be disentangled based solely on looking at the dictionary. Maxims of statutory interpretation exist to allow us to figure out how, precisely, the statute is using the language — this does not require looking at legislative intent.

A rather infamous example is a provision of the U.S. code that makes it a criminal offense "to shoot a fish from an airplane." You have to look at the specific context of the language, as well as the broader context of the statute, to determine whether it criminalizes shooting at fish from airplanes (such as with a firearm) or shooting fish out of airplanes (such as with an airplane-mounted catapult).

Here, it is fairly easy to determine what a "tangible object" means related to the title (which refers to records), adjacent provisions relating to document destruction in other types of investigations, and the list of actions prohibited by the statute in question. I remain at a loss as to how one would "falsify" or "make a false entry in" a red grouper.

[Donerail]

A tangible object is a tangible object. Perhaps the legislators did not intend such a meaning, but the Court has admitted, time after time, that they ought not read legislative intention into law.

I remain at a loss as to how one would "falsify" or "make a false entry in" a red grouper.

18 U.S.C. §1518 makes it a federal to crime to 'knowingly alter, destroy, mutilate, conceal, cover up, falsify, or make a false entry in any record, document, or tangible object with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence" a federal investigation.

This is effectively what petitioner did by throwing the fish into the sea.

The verbs are relevant to determining what "tangible object" means.

[Donerail]

I remain at a loss as to how one would "falsify" or "make a false entry in" a red grouper.

18 U.S.C. §1518 makes it a federal to crime to 'knowingly alter, destroy, mutilate, conceal, cover up, falsify, or make a false entry in any record, document, or tangible object with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence" a federal investigation.

This is effectively what petitioner did by throwing the fish into the sea.

The verbs are relevant to determining what "tangible object" means.

So what do the preceding verbs (including the bolded) refer to?

Records.

[Donerail]

I remain at a loss as to how one would "falsify" or "make a false entry in" a red grouper.

18 U.S.C. §1518 makes it a federal to crime to 'knowingly alter, destroy, mutilate, conceal, cover up, falsify, or make a false entry in any record, document, or tangible object with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence" a federal investigation.

This is effectively what petitioner did by throwing the fish into the sea.

The verbs are relevant to determining what "tangible object" means.

So what do the preceding verbs (including the bolded) refer to?

Records.

And why not documents and tangible objects?

Here, it is fairly easy to determine what a "tangible object" means related to the title (which refers to records), adjacent provisions relating to document destruction in other types of investigations, and the list of actions prohibited by the statute in question. I remain at a loss as to how one would "falsify" or "make a false entry in" a red grouper.

As I have already made clear, the statute's title refers to "destruction, alteration, or falsification of records," §1520 likewise refers to "records," and the list of actions prohibited only make sense to describe documents, records and their equivalents.