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Scalia, J., dissenting
eral courts differently from state courts; the Red Cross is granted the "power" to sue in both. This parallel treatment of state and federal courts even further undermines a jurisdictional reading of the statute, since the provision cannot reasonably be read as allowing the Red Cross to enter a state court without establishing the independent basis of jurisdiction appropriate under state law. Such a reading would present serious constitutional questions. Cf. Brown v. Gerdes, 321 U. S. 178, 188 (1944) (Frankfurter, J., concurring); Howlett v. Rose, 496 U. S. 356, 372 (1990); Herb v. Pit-cairn, 324 U. S. 117, 120-121 (1945); Minneapolis & St. Louis R. Co. v. Bombolis, 241 U. S. 211, 222-223 (1916); but cf. Sandalow, Henry v. Mississippi and the Adequate State Ground: Proposals for a Revised Doctrine, 1965 S. Ct. Rev. 187, 207, n. 84. Since the language of the Red Cross Charter cannot fairly be read to create federal jurisdiction but not state jurisdiction, we should not construe it as creating either. Edward J. DeBartolo Corp. v. NLRB, 463 U. S. 147, 157 (1983); NLRB v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago, 440 U. S. 490, 500- 501 (1979).
I therefore conclude—indeed, I do not think it seriously contestable—that the natural reading of the "sue and be sued" clause of 36 U. S. C. § 2 confers upon the Red Cross only the capacity to "sue and be sued" in state and federal courts; it does not confer jurisdiction upon any court, state or federal.
II
I do not understand the Court to disagree with my analysis of the ordinary meaning of the statutory language. Its theory is that, regardless of ordinary meaning, our cases have created what might be termed a "phrase of art," whereby a "sue and be sued" clause confers federal jurisdiction "if, but only if, it specifically mentions the federal courts." Ante, at 255. Thus, while the uninitiated would consider the phrase "sue and be sued in any court in the United States" to mean the same thing as "sue and be sued
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