Cite as: 512 U. S. 532 (1994)
Ginsburg, J., dissenting
plish [Congress'] objects." Urie v. Thompson, 337 U. S. 163, 180 (1949); see Buell, supra, at 562.
In particular, the Court has given full scope to the key statutory term "injury." The Act prescribes that "[e]very common carrier by railroad . . . shall be liable in damages to any person suffering injury while he is employed by such carrier." 45 U. S. C. § 51. That prescription, this Court observed, is "not restrictive as to . . . the particular kind of injury." Urie, 337 U. S., at 181. "[W]hen the statute was enacted," it is true, "Congress' attention was focused primarily upon . . . accidents on interstate railroads," for "these were the major causes of injury and death resulting from railroad operations." Ibid. But "accidental injuries were not the only ones likely to occur," and Congress chose "all-inclusive wording." Ibid. "To read into [language as broad as could be framed] a restriction [tied] to . . . the particular sorts of harms inflicted," the Court recognized, "would be contradictory to the wording, the remedial and humanitarian purpose, and the constant and established course of liberal construction of the Act followed by this Court." Id., at 181-182.
II
Seven years ago, in Atchison, T. & S. F. R. Co. v. Buell, 480 U. S. 557 (1987), the Court left unresolved the question whether emotional injury is compensable under the FELA, because the record in that case did not adequately present the issue. Id., at 560-561, 570-571. In his unanimous opinion for the Court, Justice Stevens explained why the question could not be resolved on a fact-thin record:
"[W]hether 'emotional injury' is cognizable under the FELA is not necessarily an abstract point of law or a pure question of statutory construction that might be answerable without exacting scrutiny of the facts of the case. Assuming, as we have, that FELA jurisprudence gleans guidance from common-law developments, see
561
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