Opinion of the Court
Congress in 1986 authorized the government to impose penalties on a per-account basis for certain willful violations. Pub. L. 99–570, §1357(c), 100 Stat. 3207-25. And it took many years more before Congress in 2004 amended the law again to authorize penalties for nonwillful violations. Pub. L. 108–357, §821(a), 118 Stat. 1586. When crafting this latest provision, it would have been the simplest thing for Congress to model its work on its 1986 amendment and authorize per-account penalties for nonwillful violations just as it had for certain willful ones. But Congress didn’t do anything like that. The language it adopted for nonwillful penalties in 2004 bears scant resemblance to the language it used when authorizing per-account penalties for certain willful violations in 1986.
Consider as well Congress’s statement of purpose. Congress has declared that the BSA’s “purpose” is “to require” certain “reports” or “records” that may assist the government in everything from criminal and tax to intelligence and counterintelligence investigations. 31 U. S. C. §5311.[1] Here we see further evidence that the relevant legal duty the BSA establishes is the duty to file certain reports. We see evidence, too, that the point of these reports is to supply the government with information potentially relevant to various kinds of investigations, criminal and civil alike. But what we do not see is any indication that Congress sought to maximize penalties for every nonwillful mistake (whether a late filing, a transposed account number, or an out-of-date bank address). See Brief for American College
- ↑ “A preamble, purpose clause, or recital is a permissible indicator of meaning.” A. Scalia & B. Garner, Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts 217 (2012). See also 1 J. Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States §459, p. 443 (1833) (“[T]he preamble of a statute is a key to open the mind of the makers, as to the mischiefs, which are to be remedied, and the objects, which are to be accomplished by the provisions of the statute”).
