Cognitive Dissonance at the Supreme Court

"Where there are two ways to read the text -- either [the word] attorney is surplusage, in which case the text is plain; or attorney is nonsurplusage . . ., in which case the text is ambiguous -- applying the rule against surplusage is, absent other indications, inappropriate." Lamie v. Office of United States Trustee, 540 U.S. 526 (2004).