380
Opinion of the Court
2
Because it appears that the settlement judgment would be res judicata under Delaware law, we proceed to the second step of the Marrese analysis and ask whether § 27 of the Exchange Act, which confers exclusive jurisdiction upon the federal courts for suits arising under the Act, partially repealed § 1738. Section 27 contains no express language regarding its relationship with § 1738 or the preclusive effect of related state-court proceedings. Thus, any modification of § 1738 by § 27 must be implied. In deciding whether § 27 impliedly created an exception to § 1738, the "general question is whether the concerns underlying a particular grant of exclusive jurisdiction justify a finding of an implied partial repeal of § 1738." Marrese, 470 U. S., at 386. "Resolution of this question will depend on the particular federal statute as well as the nature of the claim or issue involved in the subsequent federal action. . . . [T]he primary consideration must be the intent of Congress." Ibid.
As a historical matter, we have seldom, if ever, held that a federal statute impliedly repealed § 1738. See Parsons Steel, Inc. v. First Alabama Bank, 474 U. S. 518, 523-525 (1986) (Anti-Injunction Act does not limit § 1738); Migra v. Warren City School Dist. Bd. of Ed., 465 U. S., at 83-85 (42 U. S. C. § 1983 does not limit claim preclusion under § 1738); Kremer v. Chemical Constr. Corp., 456 U. S., at 468-476 (Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not limit § 1738); Allen v. McCurry, 449 U. S. 90, 96-105 (1980) (§ 1983 does not limit issue preclusion under § 1738). But cf. Brown v. Felsen, 442 U. S. 127, 138-139 (1979) (declining to give claim preclusive
as a matter of contract law, as distinguished from § 1738 law—is outside the scope of the question on which we granted certiorari. We note, however, that if a State chooses to approach the preclusive effect of a judgment embodying the terms of a settlement agreement as a question of pure contract law, a federal court must adhere to that approach under § 1738. Kremer v. Chemical Constr. Corp., 456 U. S. 461, 481-482 (1982).
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