Cite as: 530 U. S. 327 (2000)
Breyer, J., dissenting
District Court did not address the sufficiency of the time provided by the statute to make the findings required by § 3626(b)(3) in this particular action.4 Absent that determination, I would not decide the separation-of-powers question, but simply remand for further proceedings. If the District Court determined both that it lacked adequate time to make the requisite findings in the period before the automatic stay would become effective, and that applying the stay would violate the separation of powers, the question would then be properly presented.
Justice Breyer, with whom Justice Stevens joins, dissenting.
The Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PLRA) says that "any party or intervener" may move to terminate any "prospective relief" previously granted by the court, 18 U. S. C. § 3626(b)(1) (1994 ed., Supp. IV), and that the court shall terminate (or modify) that relief unless it is "necessary to correct a current and ongoing violation of [a] Federal right, extends no further than necessary to correct the violation . . . [and is] the least intrusive means" to do so. 18 U. S. C. § 3626(b)(3).
We here consider a related procedural provision of the PLRA. It says that "[a]ny motion to modify or terminate prospective relief . . . shall operate as a stay" of that prospective relief "during the period" beginning (no later than) the 90th day after the filing of the motion and ending when the motion is decided. § 3626(e)(2). This provision means
4 Neither did the Court of Appeals. It merely speculated that "[i]t may be . . . that in some cases the courts will not be able to carry out their adjudicative function in a responsible way within the time limits imposed by (e)(2)," French v. Duckworth, 178 F. 3d 437, 447 (CA7 1999), without deciding whether this action presented such a situation. The court then concluded that "under Klein [the Congress] cannot take away the power of the court in a particular case to preserve the status quo while it ponders these weighty questions." Ibid.
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