Cite as: 511 U. S. 117 (1994)
O'Connor, J., dissenting
implicated in every such action, at least in the Ninth Circuit. Moreover, because the decision below is based on the Due Process Clause, presumably it applies to the States; although we held in Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Shutts, 472 U. S. 797 (1985), that there is a constitutional right to opt out of class actions brought in state court, that holding was expressly "limited to those class actions which seek to bind known plaintiffs concerning claims wholly or predominately for money judgments." Id., at 811, n. 3. The Ninth Circuit's rule, by contrast, applies whenever "substantial damage claims" are asserted. See 982 F. 2d, at 392. The resolution of a constitutional issue with such broad-ranging consequences is both necessary and appropriate.
Finally, I do not agree with the Court's suggestion that the posture of the case could "lead us to the wrong result" with respect to the question whether the Due Process Clause requires an opt-out right in federal class actions involving claims for money damages. See ante, at 121-122. As the case comes to us, we must assume that the MDL No. 633 class was properly certified under Rule 23, notwithstanding the presence of claims for monetary relief. But this assumption, coupled with whatever presumption of constitutionality to which the Rules are entitled, will not lead us to "approve . . . action that neither we nor Congress would independently think constitutional." Ante, at 122. Either an opt-out right is constitutionally required, or it is not. We can decide this issue while reserving the question of how the Rules should be construed. While it might be convenient, and it would certainly accord with our usual practice, to decide the nonconstitutional question first, that option is not available to us in this case. The only question, then, is whether we should dismiss the writ as improvidently granted. In my view, the importance of the constitutional question, as well as the significant expenditures of resources by the litigants, amici, and this Court, outweighs the prudential concerns on which the Court relies.
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