Court Opinion

ID: 9842105
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-22 20:12:41.988079+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:09:46.756959
License: Public Domain

Justice Scalia,
concurring in part and concurring in the judgment.
I join Parts I and IV of the Court’s opinion, and Part III except insofar as it relies upon legislative history. To hold that the more general provisions of 42 U. S. C. § 1981 establish a mode of liability for a particular category of offense by municipalities that is excluded from the closely related statute (42 U. S. C. § 1983) which deals more specifically with that precise category of offense would violate the rudimen*739tary principles of construction that the specific governs the general, and that, where text permits, statutes dealing with similar subjects should be interpreted harmoniously.