300
Thomas, J., dissenting
limit, compute, or allocate liability arising from it." Ante, at 295. Though this statement is an adequate description of how we came to infer the private right of action, it is not an adequate defense of the Court's reasoning. Unlike the majority, I do not assume that courts should accord different treatment to implied rights of action whose recognition may have been influenced by Borak. How a particular private cause of action may have emerged should not weaken our vigilance in the subsequent interpretation and application of that action. Our inquiries into statutory text, congressional intent, and legislative purpose remain intact. We have consistently declined to recognize an implied private cause of action "under the antifraud provisions of the Securities Exchange Act . . . where it is 'unnecessary to ensure the fulfillment of Congress' purposes' in adopting the Act." Santa Fe Industries, Inc. v. Green, 430 U. S. 462, 477 (1977) (quoting Piper v. Chris-Craft Industries, Inc., 430 U. S. 1, 41 (1977)). Accordingly, the 10b-5 action must be "judicially delimited one way or another unless and until Congress addresses the question." Blue Chip Stamps, supra, at 749. In the absence of any compelling reason to allow contribution in private 10b-5 suits, we should seek to keep "the breadth" of the 10b-5 action from "grow[ing] beyond the scope congressionally intended." Virginia Bankshares, Inc. v. Sandberg, 501 U. S. 1083, 1102 (1991).
The Court's abandonment of this restrained approach to implied remedies stems from its mistaken assumption that a right to contribution is a mere "elemen[t] or aspec[t]" of Rule 10b-5's private liability apparatus. Ante, at 295. Unlike a statute of limitations, a reliance requirement, or a defense to liability, however, contribution requires a wholly separate cause of action. This case does not require us to define the elements of a 10b-5 claim or to clarify some other essential aspect of this liability scheme. Rather, we are asked to determine whether a 10b-5 defendant enjoys a distinct right to recover from a joint tortfeasor.
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