Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/524bv.pdf
Page Number: 597

524US2

Unit: $U94

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552

EASTERN ENTERPRISES v. APFEL

Stevens, J., dissenting

First Circuit.4
It is the same understanding that motivated
the members of the Coal Commission to conclude that the
operators who had employed the “orphaned miners” should
share responsibility for their health beneﬁts.5 And it is

fore the 1974 NBCWA, based on the various funds’ more than 30-year
history of continuous payment of beneﬁts and the statements of coal in-
dustry ofﬁcials. Davon, 75 F. 3d at 1124–25 (‘Congress could rationally
have concluded that such participation [in the NBCWA beneﬁt funds] led
to a legitimate expectation of lifetime beneﬁts.’). See also Templeton
Coal [Co., Inc. v. Shalala, 882 F. Supp. 799, 825 (SD Ind. 1995)] (describing
basis for lifetime beneﬁts expectation). Congress certainly had a rational
basis for concluding that all NBCWA signatories and ‘me-too’ operators
who agreed to be bound by the NBCWAs, including Blue Diamond, con-
In
tributed toward the legitimate expectations of the UMWA members.”
re Blue Diamond Coal Co., 79 F. 3d 516, 522 (1996).

4 “[I]t is not accurate to claim that only those [signatory operators] which
executed NBCWAs in or after 1974 created a legitimate expectation of
lifetime health beneﬁts for miners. Congress and the Coal Commission
both reviewed the historical evidence and concluded that pre-1974 sig-
natories had made an implicit commitment to furnish such beneﬁts. . . .
“Of course, the appellant is correct in insisting that the commitment
distilled by Congress from the historical data was not made explicit in the
text of those NBCWAs which were written before 1974. But Eastern
reads too much into that omission. To be sure, such an implied commit-
ment might not be enforceable in a civil suit ex contractu—but this is a
constitutional challenge, not a breach of contract case. For purposes of
due process review, Congress’ determination that a commitment was made
need not rest upon a legally enforceable promise; it is enough that Con-
gress’ conclusions as to the existence and effects of such a commitment
are rational.” Eastern Enterprises v. Chater, 110 F. 3d 150, 157 (1997).
5 “The Commission ﬁrmly believes that the retired miners are entitled
to the health care beneﬁts that were promised and guaranteed them and
that such commitments must be honored. . . .

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“Retired coal miners have legitimate expectations of health care bene-
ﬁts for life; that was the promise they received during their working lives
and that is how they planned their retirement years. That commitment
should be honored. But today those expectations and commitments are
in jeopardy.” Secretary of Labor’s Advisory Commission on United Mine
Workers of America Retiree Health Beneﬁts, Coal Commission Report
(1990), quoted in App. 237a, 245a–246a.

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