Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/16pdf/16-149_6jfm.pdf
Page Number: 15.0

Cite as:  581 U. S. ____ (2017) 

1 

THOMAS, J., concurring 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

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No. 16–149 
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COVENTRY HEALTH CARE OF MISSOURI, INC., FKA 

GROUP HEALTH PLAN, INC., PETITIONER v.
 
JODIE NEVILS 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF 

MISSOURI
 

[April 18, 2017] 

JUSTICE THOMAS, concurring. 
I  join  the  opinion  of  the  Court  with  one  reservation.    A 
statute  that  confers  on  an  executive  agency  the  power  to
enter into contracts that pre-empt state law—such as the 
Federal  Employee  Health  Benefits  Act  of  1959,  5  U. S. C.
§8902—might unlawfully delegate legislative power to the 
President  insofar  as  the  statute  fails  sufficiently  to  con-
strain the President’s contracting discretion.  See Depart-
ment  of  Transportation  v.  Association  of  American  Rail-
roads,  575  U. S.  ___,  ___–___ 
(THOMAS,  J., 
concurring  in  judgment)  (slip  op.,  at  11–22);  see  also 
Whitman v. American Trucking Assns., Inc., 531 U. S. 457, 
472  (2001).  Respondent,  however,  failed  to  make  that 
argument.  The Court  therefore appropriately leaves that 
issue to be decided, if at all, on remand. 

(2015)