Geier v. American Honda Motor Co., 529 U.S. 861, 46 (2000)

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906

GEIER v. AMERICAN HONDA MOTOR CO.

Stevens, J., dissenting

pre-emption of state laws that allegedly frustrate federal purposes: it has not demonstrated that allowing a common-law no-airbag claim to go forward would impose an obligation on manufacturers that directly and irreconcilably contradicts any primary objective that the Secretary set forth with clarity in Standard 208. Gade v. National Solid Wastes Management Assn., 505 U. S., at 110 (Kennedy, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment); id., at 111 ("A freewheeling judicial inquiry into whether [state law] is in tension with federal objectives would undercut the principle that it is Congress [and federal agencies,] rather than the courts[,] that pre-emp[t] state law"). Furthermore, it is important to note that the text of Standard 208 (which the Court does not even bother to quote in its opinion), unlike the regulation we reviewed in Fidelity Fed. Sav. & Loan Assn. v. De la Cuesta, 458 U. S., at 158, does not contain any expression of an intent to displace state law. Given our repeated emphasis on the importance of the presumption against pre-emption, see, e. g., CSX Transp., Inc. v. Easterwood, 507 U. S., at 663-664; Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp., 331 U. S. 218, 230 (1947), this silence lends additional support to the conclusion that the continuation of whatever common-law liability may exist in a case like this poses no danger of frustrating any of the Secretary's primary purposes in promulgating Standard 208. See Hillsborough County v. Automated Medical Laboratories, Inc., 471 U. S., at 721; Silkwood v. Kerr-McGee Corp., 464 U. S., at 251 ("It is difficult to believe that [the Secretary] would, without comment, remove all means of judicial recourse for those injured by illegal conduct").

The Court apparently views the question of pre-emption in this case as a close one. Ante, at 883 (relying on Secretary's interpretation of Standard 208's objectives to bolster its finding of pre-emption). Under "ordinary experience-proved principles of conflict pre-emption," ante, at 874, therefore, the presumption against pre-emption should control. Instead, the Court simply ignores the presumption,

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