Cite as: 506 U. S. 263 (1993)
O'Connor, J., dissenting
See ibid., and n. 4. In sum, petitioners' activities fit precisely within the language of both clauses of § 1985(3).
Yet the Court holds otherwise, and it does so primarily on the basis of an "element" of the § 1985(3) cause of action that does not appear on the face of the statute. Adhering adamantly to our choice of words in Griffin v. Breckenridge, supra, the Court holds that petitioners did not exhibit a "class-based, invidiously discriminatory animus" against the clinics or the women they serve. I would not parse Griffin so finely as to focus on that phrase to the exclusion of our reasons for adopting it as an element of a § 1985(3) civil action.
A
As the Court explained in Griffin, § 1985(3)'s "class-based animus" requirement is derived from the statute's legislative history. That case recounted that § 2 of the original Civil Rights bill had proposed criminal punishment for private individuals who conspired "with intent 'to do any act in violation of the rights, privileges, or immunities of another person.' " 403 U. S., at 99-100 (quoting Cong. Globe, 42d Cong., 1st Sess., App. 68 (1871)). The bill was amended to placate those who believed the proposed language was too sweeping. 403 U. S., at 100. Accordingly, the amendment narrowed the criminal provision to reach only conspiracies that deprived "any person or class of persons of the equal protection of the laws, or of equal privileges and immunities under the laws. . . ." Cong. Globe, 42d Cong., 1st Sess., at 477 (emphasis supplied). The amendment also added a civil remedy for those harmed by such conspiracies, which is now codified at § 1985(3). Looking to the "congressional purpose" the statute's legislative history exhibited, the Court concluded that "there must be some racial, or perhaps otherwise class-based, invidiously discriminatory animus behind the conspirators' action. The conspiracy, in other words, must aim at a deprivation of the equal enjoyment of rights secured by the law to all." Griffin, 403 U. S., at 102 (footnotes omitted).
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