246
Opinion of O'Connor, J.
B
Congress has recently revisited § 1305, and said that it "d[id] not intend to alter the broad preemption interpretation adopted by the United States Supreme Court in Morales," H. R. Conf. Rep. No. 103-677, p. 83 (1994). If the Court nonetheless believes that Morales misread § 1305, the proper course of action would be to overrule that case, despite Congress' apparent approval of it. The Court's reading of § 1305 is not, in my view, a " 'closer working out' " of ADA pre-emption, see ante, at 235; rather, it is a new approach that does not square with our decisions in Morales and Norfolk & Western.
Stare decisis has "special force" in the area of statutory interpretation, see Allied-Bruce Terminix Cos. v. Dobson, post, at 284 (O'Connor, J., concurring) (internal quotation marks omitted). It sometimes requires adherence to a wrongly decided precedent. Post, at 283-284. Here, however, Congress apparently does not think that our decision in Morales was wrong, nor do I. In the absence of any " 'special justification,' " post, at 284 (quoting Arizona v. Rumsey, 467 U. S. 203, 212 (1984)), for departing from Morales, I would recognize the import of Morales and Norfolk & Western here, and render the decision that the language of § 1305, in light of those cases, compels. If, at the end of the day, Congress believes we have erred in interpreting § 1305, it remains free to correct our mistake.
II
Our decisions in Morales and Norfolk & Western suffice to decide this case along the lines I have described. In addition, however, I disagree with the Court's view that courts can realistically be confined, "in breach-of-contract actions, to the parties' bargain, with no enlargement or enhancement based on state laws or policies external to the agreement." Ante, at 233. When they are so confined, the Court says, courts are "simply hold[ing] parties to their agreements,"
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