Cite as: 508 U. S. 1 (1993)
Opinion of the Court
33-34 (1992). "Any such waiver must be strictly construed in favor of the United States," Ardestani v. INS, 502 U. S. 129, 137 (1991), and not enlarged beyond what the language of the statute requires, Ruckelshaus v. Sierra Club, 463 U. S. 680, 685-686 (1983). But just as " 'we should not take it upon ourselves to extend the waiver beyond that which Congress intended[,] . . . [n]either, however, should we assume the authority to narrow the waiver that Congress intended.' " Smith v. United States, 507 U. S. 197, 206 (1993) (quoting United States v. Kubrick, 444 U. S. 111, 117-118 (1979)).
We are unable to accept either party's contention. The argument of the United States is weak, simply as a matter of grammar, because the critical term in the second sentence is "the State laws," while the corresponding language in the first sentence is "State law." And such a construction would render the amendment's consent to suit largely nugatory, allowing the Government to argue for some special federal rule defeating established state-law rules governing pleading, discovery, and the admissibility of evidence at trial. We do not believe that Congress intended to create such a legal no-man's land in enacting the McCarran Amendment. We rejected a similarly technical argument of the Government in construing the McCarran Amendment in United States v. District Court, County of Eagle, 401 U. S. 520, 525 (1971), saying "[w]e think that argument is extremely technical; and we decline to confine [the McCarran Amendment] so narrowly."
We also reject Idaho's contention. In several of our cases exemplifying the rule of strict construction of a waiver of sovereign immunity, we rejected efforts to assess monetary liability against the United States for what are normal incidents of litigation between private parties. See, e. g., United States v. Chemical Foundation, Inc., 272 U. S. 1, 20-21 (1926) (assessment of costs); Library of Congress v. Shaw, 478 U. S. 310, 323 (1986) (recovery of interest on judg-
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