978
Breyer, J., dissenting
pass the considerations of, say, time or cost necessary to avoid any such result.
Regardless, as Justice Stevens points out, the Constitution itself is silent on the matter. Ante, at 944, 954, 961 (dissenting opinion). Precedent supports the Government's position here. Ante, at 956, 960-961, 962-970 (Stevens, J., dissenting). And the fact that there is not more precedent—that direct federal assignment of duties to state officers is not common—likely reflects, not a widely shared belief that any such assignment is incompatible with basic principles of federalism, but rather a widely shared practice of assigning such duties in other ways. See, e. g., South Dakota v. Dole, 483 U. S. 203 (1987) (spending power); Garcia v. United States, 469 U. S. 70 (1984); New York v. United States, 505 U. S. 144, 160 (1992) (general statutory duty); FERC v. Mississippi, 456 U. S. 742 (1982) (pre-emption). See also ante, at 973-974 (Souter, J., dissenting). Thus, there is neither need nor reason to find in the Constitution an absolute principle, the inflexibility of which poses a surprising and technical obstacle to the enactment of a law that Congress believed necessary to solve an important national problem.
For these reasons and those set forth in Justice Stevens’ opinion, I join his dissent.
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