Page:Dubin v. United States.pdf/11

Rh no limits, as “ ‘[r]eally, universally, relations stop nowhere.’ ” New York State Conference of Blue Cross & Blue Shield Plans v. ''Travelers Ins. Co.'', 514 U. S. 645, 655 (1995) (quoting H. James, Roderick Hudson xli (New York ed., World’s Classics 1980)). This language thus cannot be “considered in isolation,” Maracich v. Spears, 570 U. S. 48, 59 (2013), and the Court must “go beyond the unhelpful text and the frustrating difficulty of defining [this] key term” and look to statutory context. Travelers, 514 U. S., at 656. That the phrase refers to a relationship or nexus of some kind is clear. See Smith, 508 U. S., at 238 (“ ‘[I]n relation to’ ” requires “some purpose or effect” between two things). Yet the kind of relationship required, its nature and strength, will be informed by context.

The presence of two such context-dependent terms renders §1028A(a)(1) doubly attuned to its surroundings. The parties’ competing readings both fall within the range of meanings of “uses” and “in relation to,” taken alone. Resort to context is thus especially necessary here.