Opinion of the Court
pendently compensable service,” it nonetheless contends that “compensation for such work is properly viewed as part of the compensation for the underlying services in the bankruptcy proceeding.” Brief for United States as Amicus Curiae 25. According to the Government, if an attorney is not repaid for his time spent successfully litigating fees, his compensation for his actual “services rendered” to the estate administrator in the underlying proceeding will be diluted. Id., at 18. The United States thus urges us to treat fees for fee-defense work “as a component of ‘reasonable compensation.’ ” Id., at 33; accord, post, at 136 (Breyer, J., dissenting). We refuse to do so for several reasons.
1
First and foremost, the Government’s theory cannot be reconciled with the relevant text. Section 330(a)(1) does not authorize courts to award “reasonable compensation” simpliciter, but “reasonable compensation for actual, necessary services rendered by” the §327(a) professional. §330(a)(1)(A) (emphasis added). Here, the contested award was tied to the firms’ work on the fee-defense litigation and is correctly understood only as compensation for that work. The Government and the dissent properly concede that litigation in defense of a fee application is not a “service” within the meaning of §330(a)(1); it follows that the contested award was not “compensation” for a “service.” Thus, the only way to reach their reading of the statute would be to excise the phrase “for actual, necessary services rendered” from the statute.[1]
Contrary to the Government’s assertion, §330(a)(6) does not presuppose that courts are free to award compensation based on work that does not qualify as a service to the estate
- ↑ The dissent’s focus on reasonable compensation is therefore a red herring. See post, at 140. The question is not whether an award for fee-defense work would be “reasonable,” but whether such work is compensable in the first place.
