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Opinion of the Court
to change AAdvantage Program rules contained in AAdvantage contracts." Ibid.
American's argument is unpersuasive, for it assumes the answer to the very contract construction issue on which plaintiffs' claims turn: Did American, by contract, reserve the right to change the value of already accumulated mileage credits, or only to change the rules governing credits earned from and after the date of the change? See Brief for Respondents 5 (plaintiffs recognize that American "reserved the right to restrict, suspend, or otherwise alter aspects of the Program prospectively," but maintain that American "never reserved the right to retroactively diminish the value of the credits previously earned by members"). That question of contract interpretation has not yet had a full airing, and we intimate no view on its resolution.
Responding to our colleagues' diverse opinions dissenting in part, we add a final note. This case presents two issues that run all through the law. First, who decides (here, courts or the DOT, the latter lacking contract dispute resolution resources for the task)? On this question, all agree to this extent: None of the opinions in this case would foist on the DOT work Congress has neither instructed nor funded the Department to do. Second, where is it proper to draw the line (here, between what the ADA preempts, and what it leaves to private ordering, backed by judicial enforcement)? Justice Stevens reads our Morales decision to demand only minimal preemption; in contrast, Justice O'Connor reads the same case to mandate total preemption.9 The middle course we adopt seems to us best calculated to carry out the congressional design; it also bears the approval of the statute's experienced administrator, the DOT. And while we adhere to our holding in Morales, we do not overlook that in our system of adjudication, principles seldom can
9 Justice O'Connor's "all is pre-empted" position leaves room for personal injury claims, but only by classifying them as matters not "relating to [air carrier] services." See post, at 242-243.
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