630
Opinion of Breyer, J.
tion, and do not believe it appropriate for this Court to second-guess the District Court on the matter without first having the Court of Appeals consider it. Fourth, I am uncertain about the tenor of an opinion that seems to suggest the settlement is unfair. And fifth, in the absence of further review by the Court of Appeals, I cannot accept the majority's suggestions that "notice" is inadequate.
These difficulties flow from the majority's review of what are highly fact-based, complex, and difficult matters, matters that are inappropriate for initial review before this Court. The law gives broad leeway to district courts in making class certification decisions, and their judgments are to be reviewed by the court of appeals only for abuse of discretion. See Califano v. Yamasaki, 442 U. S. 682, 703 (1979). Indeed, the District Court's certification decision rests upon more than 300 findings of fact reached after five weeks of comprehensive hearings. Accordingly, I do not believe that we should in effect set aside the findings of the District Court. That court is far more familiar with the issues and litigants than is a court of appeals or are we, and therefore has "broad power and discretion . . . with respect to matters involving the certification" of class actions. Reiter v. Sono-tone Corp., 442 U. S. 330, 345 (1979); cf. Cooter & Gell v. Hart-marx Corp., 496 U. S. 384, 402 (1990) (district court better situated to make fact-dependent legal determinations in Rule 11 context).
I do not believe that we can rely upon the Court of Appeals' review of the District Court record, for that review, and its ultimate conclusions, are infected by a legal error. E. g., Georgine v. Amchem Products, Inc., 83 F. 3d 610, 626 (CA3 1996) (holding that "considered as a litigation class," the class cannot meet Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23's requirements (emphasis added)). There is no evidence that the Court of Appeals at any point considered the settlement as something that would help the class meet Rule 23. I find, moreover, the fact-related issues presented here sufficiently
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