886
Opinion of Souter, J.
damages will be available for breach, that remedy must be "implied in law" and therefore unavailable under the Tucker Act, ibid.
Nor can the dissenting view be confined to those contracts that are "regulatory" in nature. Such a distinction would raise enormous analytical difficulties; one could ask in this case whether the Government as contractor was regulating or insuring. The dissent understandably does not advocate such a distinction, but its failure to advance any limiting principle at all would effectively compromise the Government's capacity as a reliable, straightforward contractor whenever the subject matter of a contract might be subject to subsequent regulation, which is most if not all of the time.31 Since the facts of the present case demonstrate that the Government may wish to further its regulatory goals through contract, we are unwilling to adopt any rule of construction that would weaken the Government's capacity to do business by converting every contract it makes into an arena for unmistakability litigation.
In any event, we think the dissent goes fundamentally wrong when it concludes that "the issue of remedy for . . . breach" can arise only "[i]f the sovereign did surrender its power unequivocally." Post, at 929. This view ignores the
31 The dissent justifies its all-devouring view of unmistakability not by articulating any limit, but simply by reminding us that " '[m]en must turn square corners when they deal with the Government.' " Post, at 937 (quoting Rock Island, A. & L. R. Co. v. United States, 254 U. S. 141, 143 (1920) (Holmes, J.)). We have also recognized, however, that " '[i]t is no less good morals and good law that the Government should turn square corners in dealing with the people than that the people should turn square corners in dealing with their government.' " Heckler v. Community Health Services of Crawford Cty., Inc., 467 U. S. 51, 61, n. 13 (1984) (quoting St. Regis Paper Co. v. United States, 368 U. S. 208, 229 (1961) (Black, J., dissenting). See also Federal Crop Ins. Corp. v. Merrill, 332 U. S. 380, 387-388 (1947) (Jackson, J., dissenting) ("It is very well to say that those who deal with the Government should turn square corners. But there is no reason why the square corners should constitute a one-way street").
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