Cite as: 526 U. S. 344 (1999)
Opinion of the Court
Ginsburg, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Stevens, OTMConnor, Kennedy, Souter, and Breyer, JJ., joined. Rehnquist, C. J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Scalia and Thomas, JJ., joined, post, p. 357.
Deborah Alley Smith argued the cause for petitioner. With her on the briefs was Rhonda Pitts Chambers.
J. David Pugh argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief was James F. Archibald III.*
Justice Ginsburg delivered the opinion of the Court.
This case concerns the time within which a defendant named in a state-court action may remove the action to a federal court. The governing provision is 28 U. S. C. § 1446(b), which specifies, in relevant part, that the removal notice "shall be filed within thirty days after the receipt by the defendant, through service or otherwise, of a copy of the [complaint]." The question presented is whether the named defendant must be officially summoned to appear in the action before the time to remove begins to run. Or, may the 30-day period start earlier, on the named defendant's receipt, before service of official process, of a "courtesy copy" of the filed complaint faxed by counsel for the plaintiff?
We read Congress' provisions for removal in light of a bedrock principle: An individual or entity named as a defendant is not obliged to engage in litigation unless notified of the action, and brought under a court's authority, by formal process. Accordingly, we hold that a named defendant's time to
*Briefs of amici curiae urging reversal were filed for the United States by Solicitor General Waxman, Assistant Attorney General Hunger, Deputy Solicitor General Wallace, Kent L. Jones, Barbara L. Herwig, and Robert D. Kamenshine; for the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations by Laurence Gold, Jonathan P. Hiatt, and Marsha S. Berzon; and for the Product Liability Advisory Council, Inc., by Patrick W. Lee and Robert P. Charrow.
David C. Lewis filed a brief for the Defense Research Institute as amicus curiae.
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