198
Stevens, J., dissenting
and abetting liability intact draws further strength from the fact that the SEC itself has consistently understood § 10(b) to impose aider and abettor liability since shortly after the rule's promulgation. See Ernst & Young, 494 U. S., at 75 (Stevens, J., concurring). In short, one need not agree as an original matter with the many decisions recognizing the private right against aiders and abettors to concede that the right fits comfortably within the statutory scheme, and that it has become a part of the established system of private enforcement. We should leave it to Congress to alter that scheme.
The Court would be on firmer footing if it had been shown that aider and abettor liability "detracts from the effectiveness of the 10b-5 implied action or interferes with the effective operation of the securities laws." See Musick, Peeler & Garrett v. Employers Ins. of Wausau, 508 U. S. 286, 298 (1993). However, the line of decisions recognizing aider and abettor liability suffers from no such infirmities. The language of both § 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 encompasses "any person" who violates the Commission's antifraud rules, whether "directly or indirectly"; we have read this "broad" language "not technically and restrictively, but flexibly to effectuate its remedial purposes." Affiliated Ute Citizens of Utah v. United States, 406 U. S. 128, 151 (1972). In light of the encompassing language of § 10(b), and its acknowledged purpose to strengthen the antifraud remedies of the common law, it was certainly no wild extrapolation for courts to conclude that aiders and abettors should be subject to the
Insider Trading and Securities Fraud Enforcement Act of 1988, Pub. L. 100-704, 102 Stat. 4681, contains an express "acknowledgment," Musick, Peeler & Garrett v. Employers Ins. of Wausau, 508 U. S. 286, 294 (1993), of causes of action "implied from a provision of this title," 15 U. S. C. § 78t-1(d).
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