532
Opinion of Blackmun, J.
1969 (1969 Act) is "governed entirely by the express language" of the statutes' pre-emption provisions. Ante, at 517. Where, as here, Congress has included in legislation a specific provision addressing—and indeed, entitled—preemption, the Court's task is one of statutory interpretation— only to "identify the domain expressly pre-empted" by the provision. Ibid. An interpreting court must " 'begin with the language employed by Congress and the assumption that the ordinary meaning of that language accurately expresses the legislative purpose.' " FMC Corp. v. Holliday, 498 U. S. 52, 57 (1990) (quoting Park 'N Fly, Inc. v. Dollar Park & Fly, Inc., 469 U. S. 189, 194 (1985)). See California Coastal Comm'n v. Granite Rock Co., 480 U. S. 572, 591-593 (1987); California Federal Savings & Loan Assn. v. Guerra, 479 U. S. 272, 282 (1987) (opinion of Marshall, J.). We resort to principles of implied pre-emption—that is, inquiring whether Congress has occupied a particular field with the intent to supplant state law or whether state law actually conflicts with federal law, see English v. General Electric Co., 496 U. S. 72, 79 (1990)—only when Congress has been silent with respect to pre-emption.
I further agree with the Court that we cannot find the state common-law damages claims at issue in this case preempted by federal law in the absence of clear and unambiguous evidence that Congress intended that result. See ante, at 516. The Court describes this reluctance to infer preemption in ambiguous cases as a "presumption against the pre-emption of state police power regulations." Ante, at 518. Although many of the cases in which the Court has invoked such a presumption against displacement of state law have involved implied pre-emption, see, e. g., Florida Lime & Avocado Growers, Inc. v. Paul, 373 U. S. 132, 146- 152 (1963); Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp., 331 U. S. 218, 236-237 (1947), this Court often speaks in general terms without reference to the nature of the pre-emption at issue in the given statutory scheme. See, e. g., Maryland v. Loui-
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