376
Blackmun, J., dissenting
423). In determining whether this second exception to § 1983 enforcement applies, we have required the defendant not merely to point to the existence of alternative means of enforcement, but to demonstrate "by express provision or other specific evidence from the statute itself that Congress intended to foreclose [§ 1983] enforcement." 496 U. S., at 520-521. We have said repeatedly that we will not "lightly" conclude that Congress has so intended. Id., at 520 (quoting Wright, 479 U. S., at 423-424, in turn quoting Smith v. Robinson, 468 U. S. 992, 1012 (1984)). In only two instances, where we concluded that "the statute itself provides a comprehensive remedial scheme which leaves no room for additional private remedies under § 1983," ante, at 360, n. 11, have we held that Congress has intended to foreclose § 1983 enforcement. See Smith v. Robinson, 468 U. S. 992 (1984) ("carefully tailored" mixed system of enforcement beginning with local administrative review and culminating in a right to judicial review); Middlesex County Sewerage Authority v. National Sea Clammers Assn., 453 U. S. 1 (1981) (enforcement scheme authorizing Environmental Protection Agency to bring civil suits, providing for criminal penalties, and including two citizen-suit provisions).
The Court does not find these demanding criteria satisfied here. See ante, at 360-361, and n. 11. Instead, it simply circumvents them altogether: The Court holds that even if the funding cutoff provision in the Adoption Act is not an "express provision" that "provides a comprehensive remedial scheme" leaving "no room for additional private remedies under § 1983," Wilder, 496 U. S., at 520, that provision nevertheless precludes § 1983 enforcement. In so holding, the Court has inverted the established presumption that a private remedy is available under § 1983 unless "Congress has affirmatively withdrawn the remedy." 496 U. S., at 509, n. 9 (citing Golden State Transit Corp. v. Los Angeles, 493 U. S., at 106-107, and Wright, 479 U. S., at 423-424).
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