478
Opinion of the Court
not contain such an allegation. Indeed, we have consistently held that § 1346(b)'s reference to the "law of the place" means law of the State—the source of substantive liability under the FTCA. See, e. g., Miree v. DeKalb County, 433 U. S. 25, 29, n. 4 (1977); United States v. Muniz, 374 U. S. 150, 153 (1963); Richards, supra, at 6-7, 11; Rayonier Inc. v. United States, 352 U. S. 315, 318 (1957). By definition, federal law, not state law, provides the source of liability for a claim alleging the deprivation of a federal constitutional right. To use the terminology of Richards, the United States simply has not rendered itself liable under § 1346(b) for constitutional tort claims. Thus, because Meyer's constitutional tort claim is not cognizable under § 1346(b), the FTCA does not constitute his "exclusive" remedy. His claim was therefore properly brought against FSLIC "in its own name." 28 U. S. C. § 2679(a).
FDIC argues that by exposing a sue-and-be-sued agency to constitutional tort claims, our interpretation of "cognizability" runs afoul of Congress' understanding that § 2679(a) would place the torts of "suable" and "nonsuable" agencies on the same footing. See Loeffler, 486 U. S., at 562. FDIC would deem all claims "sounding in tort"—including constitutional torts—"cognizable" under § 1346(b). Under FDIC's reading of the statute, only the portion of § 1346(b) that describes a "tort"—i. e., "claims against the United States, for money damages, . . . for injury or loss of property, or personal injury or death caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of any employee of the Government"—would govern cognizability. The remaining portion of § 1346(b) would simply describe a "limitation" on the waiver of sovereign immunity.6
6 FDIC relies upon United States v. Smith, 499 U. S. 160 (1991), for its interpretation of the term "cognizable." In Smith, the "foreign country" exception, 28 U. S. C. § 2680(k), barred plaintiffs' recovery against the Federal Government for injuries allegedly caused by the negligence of a Government employee working abroad. 499 U. S., at 165. We held that the
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