Cite as: 514 U. S. 211 (1995)
Stevens, J., dissenting
injuring a large class of litigants that includes petitioners. Without resolving the factual issue that would have determined the timeliness of petitioners' complaint before Lampf, the District Court dismissed the instant action as untimely under the new limitations period dictated by this Court. Because Lampf had deprived them of any nonfrivolous basis for an appeal, petitioners acquiesced in the dismissal, which therefore became final on September 12, 1991.
Congress responded to Lampf by passing § 27A, which became effective on December 19, 1991. The statute changed the substantive limitations law, restoring the pre-Lampf limitations rule for two categories of 10b-5 actions that had been pending on June 19, 1991. Subsection (a) of § 27A applies to cases that were still pending on December 19, 1991. The Courts of Appeals have uniformly upheld the constitutionality of that subsection,6 and its validity is not challenged in this case. Subsection (b) applies to actions, like the instant case, that (1) were dismissed after June 19, 1991, and (2) would have been timely under the pre-Lampf regime. This subsection authorized the district courts to reinstate dismissed cases if the plaintiff so moved within 60 days after the effective date of § 27A. The amendment was not self-executing: Unless the plaintiff both filed a timely motion for reinstatement and then satisfied the court that the complaint had been timely filed under applicable pre-Lampf law, the dismissal would remain in effect.
In this case petitioners made the required showing, but the District Court refused to reinstate their case. Instead,
6 See Cooperativa de Ahorro y Credito Aguada v. Kidder, Peabody & Co., 993 F. 2d 269 (CA1), cert. pending, No. 93-564; Axel Johnson Inc. v. Arthur Andersen & Co., 6 F. 3d 78 (CA2 1993); Cooke v. Manufactured Homes, Inc., 998 F. 2d 1256 (CA4 1993); Berning v. A. G. Edwards & Sons, Inc., 990 F. 2d 272 (CA7 1993); Gray v. First Winthrop Corp., 989 F. 2d 1564 (CA9 1993); Anixter v. Home-Stake Production Co., 977 F. 2d 1533 (CA10 1992), cert. denied sub nom. Dennler v. Trippet, 507 U. S. 1029 (1993); Henderson v. Scientific-Atlanta, Inc., 971 F. 2d 1567 (CA11 1992), cert. denied, 510 U. S. 828 (1993).
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