Cite as: 514 U. S. 695 (1995)
Rehnquist, C. J., dissenting
One of the consequences of this highly selective standard for granting review is that this Court is deprived of a very important means of assuring that the courts of appeals adhere to its precedents. It is all the more important, therefore, that no actual inducements to ignore these precedents be offered to the courts of appeals. But today's decision is just such an inducement; it tells courts of appeals that if they build up a body of case law contrary to ours, their case law will serve as a basis for overruling our precedent. It is difficult to imagine a more topsy-turvy doctrine than this, or one more likely to unsettle established legal rules that the doctrine of stare decisis is designed to protect.
The plurality attempts to bolster this aspect of its opinion by blandly assuring us that "the cases endorsing the exception almost certainly reflect the intent of Congress." Ante, at 713. Members of Congress will surely be surprised by this statement. Congress has not amended or considered amending § 1001 in the 40 years since Bramblett was decided. We have often noted the danger in relying on congressional inaction in construing a statute, Brecht v. Abrahamson, 507 U. S. 619, 632 (1993), citing Schneidewind v. ANR Pipeline Co., 485 U. S. 293, 306 (1988), but even there the "inaction" referred to is a failure of Congress to enact a particular proposal. Here there was not even any proposal before Congress.
If we delve more deeply into the hypothetical thought processes of a very diligent Member of Congress who made a specialty of following cases construing § 1001, the Member would undoubtedly know of our decision in Bramblett 40 years ago. If he also followed decisions of the courts of appeals, he would know that in various forms—whether a "judicial function" exception or an "exculpatory no" rule— several Courts of Appeals have held § 1001 inapplicable to some statements made in the course of judicial proceedings. If, after due deliberation, he concluded that this exception was inconsistent with our opinion in Bramblett, he would
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