Cite as: 520 U. S. 397 (1997)
Breyer, J., dissenting
that we should reexamine the legal soundness of that basic distinction itself.
I believe that the legal prerequisites for reexamination of an interpretation of an important statute are present here. The soundness of the original principle is doubtful. The original principle has generated a body of interpretive law that is so complex that the law has become difficult to apply. Factual and legal changes have divorced the law from the distinction's apparent original purposes. And there may be only a handful of individuals or groups that have significantly relied upon perpetuation of the original distinction. If all this is so, later law has made the original distinction, not simply wrong, but obsolete and a potential source of confusion. Cf., e. g., Continental T. V., Inc. v. GTE Sylvania Inc., 433 U. S. 36, 47-49 (1977) (reexamining Sherman Act's interpretation set forth in United States v. Arnold, Schwinn & Co., 388 U. S. 365 (1967)); Hubbard v. United States, 514 U. S. 695, 697-715 (1995) (reexamining interpretation of 18 U. S. C. § 1001 set forth in United States v. Bramblett, 348 U. S. 503 (1955)); Monell, supra, at 664-690, 695-701 (reexamining interpretation of 42 U. S. C. § 1983 set forth in Monroe v. Pape, 365 U. S. 167 (1961)). See also United States v. Gaudin, 515 U. S. 506, 521-522 (1995).
First, consider Monell's original reasoning. The Monell
"no vicarious liability" principle rested upon a historical analysis of § 1983 and upon § 1983's literal language—language that imposes liability upon (but only upon) any "person." Justice Stevens has clearly explained why neither of these rationales is sound. Oklahoma City v. Tuttle, 471 U. S. 808, 834-844 (1985) (dissenting opinion); Pembaur v. Cincinnati, 475 U. S. 469, 489-491 (1986) (opinion concurring in part and concurring in judgment). Essentially, the history on which Monell relied consists almost exclusively of the fact that the Congress that enacted § 1983 rejected an amendment (called the Sherman amendment) that would have made municipalities vicariously liable for the maraud-
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