Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/18-1023_m64o.pdf
Page Number: 38

Cite as:  590 U. S. ____ (2020) 

3 

ALITO, J., dissenting 

for the sake of argument that the Court is correct in holding 
that §1342 of the Affordable Care Act created an obligation
that  was  not  rescinded  by  subsequent  appropriations  rid-
ers.  Thus, for present purposes, I do not dispute the thrust 
of the analysis in Parts I–III of the opinion of the Court. 

I 
My disagreement concerns the critical question that the
Court decides in the remainder of its opinion.  In order for 
petitioners to recover, federal law must provide a right of 
action for damages.  The Tucker Act, 28 U. S. C. §1491, un-
der which petitioners brought suit, provides a waiver of sov-
ereign immunity and a grant of federal-court jurisdiction, 
but it does not create any right of action.  See, e.g., United 
States v. Navajo Nation, 556 U. S. 287, 290 (2009).  Nor does 
any  other  federal  statute  expressly  create  such  a  right  of 
action.  The Court, however, holds that §1342 of the Afford-
able Care Act does so by implication.  Because §1342 says
that the United States “shall pay” for the companies’ losses, 
42 U. S. C. §18062(b)(1), the Court finds it is proper to infer 
a private right of action to recover for these losses. 

This  is  an  important  step.    Under  the  Court’s  decision, 
billions of taxpayer dollars will be turned over to insurance 
companies that bet unsuccessfully on the success of the pro-
gram  in  question.  This  money  will  have  to  be  paid  even
though  Congress  has  pointedly  declined  to  appropriate 
money for that purpose.

Not only will today’s decision have a massive immediate
impact,  its  potential  consequences  go  much  further.    The 
Court characterizes provisions like §1342 as “rare,” ante, at 
26, but the phrase the “Secretary shall pay”––the language 
that the Court construes as creating a cause of action––ap-
pears in many other federal statutes. 

II 
The Court concludes that it is proper for us to recognize