924
Rehnquist, C. J., dissenting
which is another way of saying that the Government had assumed the risk of a change in its laws. That this is the correct interpretation of Horowitz is made clear, I think, by our two principal cases of this century holding that the Government may not simply repudiate its contractual obligations, Lynch v. United States, supra, and Perry v. United States, 294 U. S. 330 (1935). Those cases, which are barely discussed in the principal opinion, failed even to mention Horowitz. In both of them, as here, Congress specifically set out to abrogate the essential bargain of the contracts at issue—and in both we declared such abrogation to amount to impermissible repudiation. See Lynch, supra, at 578- 580; Perry, supra, at 350-354.
For the foregoing reasons, I concur in the judgment.
Chief Justice Rehnquist, with whom Justice Ginsburg joins as to Parts I, III, and IV, dissenting.
The principal opinion works sweeping changes in two related areas of the law dealing with government contracts. It drastically reduces the scope of the unmistakability doctrine, shrouding the residue with clouds of uncertainty, and it limits the sovereign acts doctrine so that it will have virtually no future application. I respectfully dissent.
I
The principal opinion properly recognizes that the unmistakability doctrine is a "special rule" of government contracting which provides, in essence, a "canon of contract construction that surrenders of sovereign authority must appear in unmistakable terms." Ante, at 860. Exercises of the sovereign authority include of course the power to tax and, relevant to this case, the authority to regulate.
The most recent opinion of this Court dealing with the unmistakability doctrine is United States v. Cherokee Nation of Okla., 480 U. S. 700 (1987). That case quoted language from Bowen v. Public Agencies Opposed to Social Security
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