Cite as: 511 U. S. 164 (1994)
Stevens, J., dissenting
fication, the Legislature's failure to reject a consistent judicial or administrative construction counsels hesitation from a court asked to invalidate it. Cf. Burnet v. Coronado Oil & Gas Co., 285 U. S. 393, 406 (1932) (Brandeis, J., dissenting). Here, however, the available evidence suggests congressional approval of aider and abettor liability in private § 10(b) actions. In its comprehensive revision of the Exchange Act in 1975, Congress left untouched the sizable body of case law approving aiding and abetting liability in private actions under § 10(b) and Rule 10b-5.8 The case for leaving aiding
8 By 1975, the renowned decision in Brennan v. Midwestern United Life Ins. Co., 259 F. Supp. 673, 680 (ND Ind. 1966), had been on the books almost a decade and several Courts of Appeals had recognized aider and abettor liability in private actions brought under § 10(b) and Rule 10b-5. See Kerbs v. Fall River Industries, Inc., 502 F. 2d 731, 739-740 (CA10 1974); Landy v. FDIC, 486 F. 2d 139, 162-163 (CA3 1973), cert. denied, 416 U. S. 960 (1974); Strong v. France, 474 F. 2d 747, 752 (CA9 1973); Buttrey v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., 410 F. 2d 135, 144 (CA7), cert. denied, 396 U. S. 838 (1969). See also Lanza v. Drexel & Co., 479 F. 2d 1277, 1301, 1303-1304 (CA2 1973) (en banc); Ruder, Multiple Defendants in Securities Law Fraud Cases: Aiding and Abetting, Conspiracy, In Pari Delicto, Indemnification, and Contribution, 120 U. Pa. L. Rev. 597, 620-638 (1972). We have noted the significance of the 1975 amendments in another case involving a "consistent line of judicial decisions" on the implied right of action under § 10(b) and Rule 10b-5. See Herman & MacLean v. Huddleston, 459 U. S. 375, 384-386 (1983). Those amendments emerged from " 'the most searching reexamination of the competitive, statutory, and economic issues facing the securities markets, the securities industry, and, of course, public investors, since the 1930's.' " Id., at 385, n. 20 (quoting H. R. Conf. Rep. No. 94-229, p. 91 (1975)).
Congress' more recent visits to the securities laws also suggest approval of the aiding and abetting theory in private § 10(b) actions. The House Report accompanying an aiding and abetting provision of the 1983 Insider Trading Sanctions Act, see 15 U. S. C. § 78u(d)(2)(A) (1982 ed., Supp. V), contains an approving reference to "judicial application of the concept of aiding and abetting liability to achieve the remedial purposes of the securities laws," H. R. Rep. No. 98-355, p. 10 (1983), and notes with favor Rolf v. Blyth, Eastman Dillon & Co., 570 F. 2d 38 (CA2), cert. denied, 439 U. S. 1039 (1978), which affirmed a judgment against an aider and abettor in a private action under § 10(b) and Rule 10b-5. Moreover, § 5 of the
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