Cite as: 520 U. S. 833 (1997)
Breyer, J., dissenting
issue here concerns a subject that Congress wished to place outside the State's legal reach.
My reason in part lies in the fact that the state law in question involves family, property, and probate—all areas of traditional, and important, state concern. Rose v. Rose, 481 U. S. 619, 625 (1987) (domestic relations law traditionally left to state regulation); Hisquierdo v. Hisquierdo, 439 U. S. 572, 581 (1979) (same); Zschernig v. Miller, 389 U. S. 429, 440 (1968) ("The several States, of course, have traditionally regulated the descent and distribution of estates"). But see ante, at 848 (majority's effort to distinguish property interests passing at divorce from those passing by devise). When this Court considers pre-emption, it works "on the 'assumption that the historic police powers of the States were not to be superseded by the Federal Act unless that was the clear and manifest purpose of Congress.' " Dillingham, supra, at 325 (quoting Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp., 331 U. S. 218 (1947)).
I can find no reasonably defined relevant category of state
law that Congress would have intended to displace. Obviously, Congress did not intend to pre-empt all state laws that govern property ownership. After all, someone must own an interest in ERISA plan benefits. Nor, for similar reasons, can one believe that Congress intended to pre-empt state laws concerning testamentary bequests. This is not an area like, say, labor relations, where Congress intended to leave private parties to work out certain matters on their own. See Machinists v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Comm'n, 427 U. S. 132, 144-148 (1976). The question, "who owns the property?" needs an answer. Ordinarily, where federal law does not provide a specific answer, state law will have to do so.
Nor can I find some appropriately defined forbidden category by looking to the congressional purpose of establishing uniform laws to regulate the administration of pension funds. Cf. Ingersoll-Rand Co. v. McClendon, 498 U. S. 133 (1990);
861
Page: Index Previous 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007