548
Opinion of Kennedy, J.
the presumption of constitutionality, "[i]t does not follow . . . that what Congress can legislate prospectively it can legislate retrospectively. The retrospective aspects of [economic] legislation, as well as the prospective aspects, must meet the test of due process, and the justifications for the latter may not suffice for the former." Id., at 16-17. We have repeated this formulation in numerous recent decisions and given serious consideration to retroactivity-based due process challenges, all without questioning the validity of the underlying due process principle. United States v. Carlton, 512 U. S. 26, 31 (1994); Concrete Pipe, supra, at 636-641; General Motors Corp. v. Romein, 503 U. S. 181, 191 (1992); United States v. Sperry Corp., 493 U. S. 52, 64 (1989); United States v. Hemme, 476 U. S. 558, 567-572 (1986); Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation v. R. A. Gray & Co., 467 U. S. 717, 729-730 (1984). These decisions treat due process challenges based on the retroactive character of the statutes in question as serious and meritorious, thus confirming the vitality of our legal tradition's disfavor of retroactive economic legislation. Indeed, it is no accident that the primary retroactivity precedents upon which today's plurality opinion relies in its takings analysis were grounded in due process. Ante, at 524-528 (citing Turner Elkhorn, R. A. Gray, and Concrete Pipe).
These cases reflect our recognition that retroactive law-making is a particular concern for the courts because of the legislative "tempt[ation] to use retroactive legislation as a means of retribution against unpopular groups or individuals." Landgraf v. USI Film Products, 511 U. S. 244, 266 (1994); see also Hochman, The Supreme Court and the Constitutionality of Retroactive Legislation, 73 Harv. L. Rev. 692, 693 (1960) (a retroactive law "may be passed with an exact knowledge of who will benefit from it"). If retroactive laws change the legal consequences of transactions long closed, the change can destroy the reasonable certainty and security which are the very objects of property ownership.
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