Cite as: 516 U. S. 367 (1996)
Opinion of the Court
(e) The subject-matter jurisdiction exception to full faith and credit, relied on by the Ninth Circuit in this case, is inapposite here, where the rendering court had subject-matter jurisdiction over the underlying suit and the defendants. Pp. 386-387. 50 F. 3d 644, reversed and remanded.
Thomas, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Rehnquist, C. J., and O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, Souter, and Breyer, JJ., joined, and in which Stevens, J., joined as to Parts I, II-A, and II-C. Stevens, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, post, p. 387. Ginsburg, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, in which Stevens, J., joined, and in which Souter, J., joined as to Part II-B, post, p. 388.
Barry R. Ostrager argued the cause for petitioners. With him on the briefs was Geoffrey C. Hazard, Jr.
Henry Paul Monaghan argued the cause for respondents. With him on the brief were Harold Edgar, Roger W. Kirby, and Irving Malchman.*
Justice Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court. This case presents the question whether a federal court may withhold full faith and credit from a state-court judgment approving a class-action settlement simply because the settlement releases claims within the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal courts. The answer is no. Absent a partial repeal of the Full Faith and Credit Act, 28 U. S. C. § 1738, by another federal statute, a federal court must give the judgment the same effect that it would have in the courts of the State in which it was rendered.
I
In 1990, petitioner Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. made a tender offer for the common stock of MCA, Inc., a
*Daniel J. Popeo and Richard A. Samp filed a brief for the Washington Legal Foundation et al. as amici curiae urging reversal.
Thaddeus Holt filed a brief for C. L. Grimes as amicus curiae urging affirmance.
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