Cite as: 532 U. S. 141 (2001)
Breyer, J., dissenting
vision, which—if it is interpreted to be anything other than a reference to our established jurisprudence concerning conflict and field pre-emption—has no discernible content that would not pick up every ripple in the pond, producing a result "that no sensible person could have intended." California Div. of Labor Standards Enforcement v. Dillingham Constr., N. A., Inc., 519 U. S. 316, 336 (1997) (Scalia, J., concurring). I persist in the view that we can bring some coherence to this area, and can give the statute both a plausible and precise content, only by interpreting the "relate to" clause as a reference to our ordinary pre-emption jurisprudence. See ibid.
Justice Breyer, with whom Justice Stevens joins, dissenting.
Like Justice Scalia, I believe that we should apply normal conflict pre-emption and field pre-emption principles where, as here, a state statute covers ERISA and nonERISA documents alike. Ante this page (concurring opinion). Our more recent ERISA cases are consistent with this approach. See De Buono v. NYSA-ILA Medical and Clinical Services Fund, 520 U. S. 806, 812-813 (1997) (rejecting literal interpretation of ERISA's pre-emption clause); California Div. of Labor Standards Enforcement v. Dillingham Constr., N. A., Inc., 519 U. S. 316, 334 (1997) (narrowly interpreting the clause); New York State Conference of Blue Cross & Blue Shield Plans v. Travelers Ins. Co., 514 U. S. 645, 656 (1995) ("go[ing] beyond the unhelpful text [of the clause] and the frustrating difficulty of defining its key term, and look[ing] instead to the objectives of the ERISA statute as a guide"). See also Boggs v. Boggs, 520 U. S. 833, 841 (1997) (relying on conflict pre-emption principles instead of ERISA's pre-emption clause). And I fear that our failure to endorse this "new approach" explicitly, Dillingham, supra, at 336 (Scalia, J., concurring), will continue to produce an "avalanche of litigation," De Buono, supra, at 809, n. 1, as
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