Cite as: 518 U. S. 839 (1996)
Rehnquist, C. J., dissenting
change in the law. He notes that "it might seem unlikely" for the Government to make such a promise, ibid., and further comments that because the contracting party is the Government, it may be "far less likely that [the parties] intend[ed] to make a promise that will oblige the Government to hold private parties harmless in the event of a change in the law," ante, at 913.
The short of the matter is that Justice Breyer and Justice Scalia cannot reach their desired result, any more than the principal opinion can, without changing the status of the Government to just another private party under the law of contracts. But 75 years ago Justice Holmes, speaking for the Court in Rock Island, A. & L. R. Co. v. United States, 254 U. S. 141, 143 (1920), said that "[m]en must turn square corners when they deal with the Government." The statement was repeated in Federal Crop Ins. Corp. v. Merrill, 332 U. S. 380, 385 (1947). The wisdom of this principle arises, not from any ancient privileges of the sovereign, but from the necessity of protecting the federal fisc—and the taxpayers who foot the bills—from possible improvidence on the part of the countless Government officials who must be authorized to enter into contracts for the Government.
V
A moment's reflection suggests that the unmistakability doctrine and the sovereign acts doctrine are not entirely separate principles. To the extent that the unmistakability doctrine is faithfully applied, the cases will be rare in which close and debatable situations under the sovereign acts doctrine are presented. I do not believe that respondents met either of these tests, and I would reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit outright or remand the case to that court for reconsideration in light of these tests as I have enunciated them.
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