Cite as: 509 U. S. 764 (1993)
Opinion of the Court
Justice Souter announced the judgment of the Court and delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I, II-A, III, and IV, and an opinion concurring in the judgment with respect to Part II-B.*
The Sherman Act makes every contract, combination, or conspiracy in unreasonable restraint of interstate or foreign commerce illegal. 26 Stat. 209, as amended, 15 U. S. C. § 1. These consolidated cases present questions about the application of that Act to the insurance industry, both here and abroad. The plaintiffs (respondents here) allege that both domestic and foreign defendants (petitioners here) violated the Sherman Act by engaging in various conspiracies to affect the American insurance market. A group of domestic defendants argues that the McCarran-Ferguson Act, 59 Stat. 33, as amended, 15 U. S. C. § 1011 et seq., precludes application of the Sherman Act to the conduct alleged; a group of foreign defendants argues that the principle of international comity requires the District Court to refrain from exercising jurisdiction over certain claims against it. We hold that most of the domestic defendants' alleged conduct is not im-General of North Carolina, James C. Gulick, Special Deputy Attorney General, and K. D. Sturgis, Assistant Attorney General, Nicholas J. Spaeth, Attorney General of North Dakota, David W. Huey, Assistant Attorney General, James E. O'Neil, Attorney General of Rhode Island, Maureen G. Glynn, Special Assistant Attorney General, T. Travis Medlock, Attorney General of South Carolina, Mark Barnett, Attorney General of South Dakota, Jeffrey P. Hallem, Assistant Attorney General, R. Paul Van Dam, Attorney General of Utah, Patrice Arent and Cy H. Castle, Assistant Attorneys General, Jeffrey L. Amestoy, Attorney General of Vermont, Julie Brill, Assistant Attorney General, and Mary Sue Terry, Attorney General of Virginia; for the National League of Cities et al. by Lawrence Kill and Anthony P. Coles; and for the Service Station Dealers of America by Dimitri G. Daskalopoulos.
Richard I. Fine filed a brief for the Service Industry Council et al. as amicus curiae.
*Justice White, Justice Blackmun, and Justice Stevens join this opinion in its entirety, and The Chief Justice joins Parts I, II-A, III, and IV.
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