306
Opinion of the Court
II
Prior to our decision in United States v. South-Eastern Underwriters Assn., 322 U. S. 533 (1944), we had consistently held that the business of insurance was not commerce. See, e. g., Paul v. Virginia, 8 Wall. 168, 183 (1869) ("Issuing a policy of insurance is not a transaction of commerce."); see also South-Eastern, 322 U. S., at 544, n. 18 (collecting cases relying on the Paul generalization). The business of insurance, in consequence, was largely immune from federal regulation. See St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. Barry, 438 U. S. 531, 539 (1978) ("[T]he States enjoyed a virtually exclusive domain over the insurance industry."). In SouthEastern, we held for the first time that an insurance company doing business across state lines engages in interstate commerce. See 322 U. S., at 553. In accord with that holding, we further decided that the Sherman Act applied to the business of insurance. See id., at 553-562.
Concerned that our decision might undermine state efforts to regulate insurance, Congress in 1945 enacted the McCarran-Ferguson Act. Section 1 of the Act provides that "continued regulation and taxation by the several States of the business of insurance is in the public interest," and that "silence on the part of the Congress shall not be construed to impose any barrier to the regulation or taxation of such business by the several States." 15 U. S. C. § 1011. In § 2(b) of the Act—the centerpiece of this case—Congress ensured that federal statutes not identified in the Act or not yet enacted would not automatically override state insurance regulation. Section 2(b) provides that when Congress enacts a law specifically relating to the business of insurance, that law controls. See § 1012(b). The subsection further provides that federal legislation general in character shall not be "construed to invalidate, impair, or supersede any law
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