Opinion of the Court
have been singled out by this Court as particularly sensitive to context, and they do not, standing alone, conclusively resolve this case.
Start with “uses.” As the Court has observed more than once, “the word ‘use’ poses some interpretational difficulties because of the different meanings attributable to it.” Bailey v. United States, 516 U. S. 137, 143 (1995); see also Leocal v. Ashcroft, 543 U. S. 1, 9 (2004). The “ ‘ordinary or natural meaning’ ” of “ ‘use’ ” is “variously defined as ‘[t]o convert to one’s service,’ ‘to employ,’ ‘to avail oneself of,’ and ‘to carry out a purpose or action by means of.’ ” Bailey, 516 U. S., at 145. “These various definitions of ‘use’ imply action and implementation.” Ibid. Beyond that general concept, however, “ ‘use’ takes on different meanings depending on context,” and because it “draws meaning from its context, … we will look not only to the word itself, but also to the statute and the [surrounding] scheme, to determine the meaning Congress intended.” Id., at 143; see also Leocal, 543 U. S., at 9 (“Particularly when interpreting a statute that features as elastic a word as ‘use,’ we construe language in its context and in light of the terms surrounding it”).
For example, the federal arson statute only applies to buildings “ ‘used in’ commerce or commerce-affecting activity.” Jones v. United States, 529 U. S. 848, 850–851 (2000). In that statutory context, the Court distinguished between uses of a building as “the locus of any commercial undertaking,” and noncovered “passive,” “passing,” or ancillary uses of a building “as collateral to obtain and secure a mortgage” or to obtain an insurance policy. Id., at 855–856. It is statutory context, therefore, that determines what kind of active employment or conversion to one’s service triggers §1028A(a)(1)’s harsh penalty.
“In relation to” is similarly context sensitive. If “ ‘relate to’ were taken to extend to the furthest stretch of its indeterminacy, then for all practical purposes” there would be
