Cite as: 530 U. S. 363 (2000)
Scalia, J., concurring in judgment
Executive," ante, at 375, n. 9. This excursus is especially pointless since the immediately succeeding footnote must rely upon the statute itself (devoid of any support in statements by "sponsors" or the "Executive") to refute the quite telling argument that the statements were addressed only to flexibility in administering the sanctions of the federal Act, and said nothing at all about state sanctions. See ante, at 376, n. 10.
It is perfectly obvious on the face of the statute that Congress expected the President to use his discretionary authority over sanctions to "move the Burmese regime in the democratic direction," ante, at 377. I therefore see no point in devoting a footnote to the interesting (albeit unsurprising) proposition that "[t]he sponsors of the federal Act" shared this expectation, ante, at 377, n. 12.
It is perfectly obvious on the face of the statute that Congress's Burma policy was a "calibrated" one, which "limit[ed] economic pressure against the Burmese Government to a specific range," ante, at 377. I therefore see no point in devoting a footnote to the interesting (albeit unsurprising) proposition that bills imposing greater sanctions were introduced but not adopted, ante, at 378, n. 13, and to the (even less surprising) proposition that the sponsors of the legislation made clear that its "limits were deliberate," ibid. And I would feel this way even if I shared the Court's naïve assumption that the failure of a bill to make it out of committee, or to be adopted when reported to the floor, is the same as a congressional "reject[ion]" of what the bill contained, ibid. Curiously, the Court later recognizes, in rejecting the argument that Congress's failure to enact express pre-emption implies approval of the state Act, that "the silence of Congress [may be] ambiguous." Ante, at 388. Would that the Court had come to this conclusion before it relied (several times) upon the implications of Congress's failure to enact legislation, see ante, at 376, n. 11, 378, n. 13, 385, n. 23.
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