296
Stevens, J., dissenting
When this Court faced an identical case 27 years ago, all the Justices believed that private parties could bring lawsuits under Title VI and its implementing regulations to enjoin the provision of governmental services in a manner that discriminated against non-English speakers. See Lau v. Nichols, 414 U. S. 563 (1974). While five Justices saw no need to go beyond the command of § 601, Chief Justice Burger, Justice Stewart, and Justice Blackmun relied specifically and exclusively on the regulations to support the private action, see id., at 569 (Stewart, J., concurring in result) (citing Mourning v. Family Publications Service, Inc., 411 U. S. 356, 369 (1973); Thorpe v. Housing Authority of Durham, 393 U. S. 268, 280-281 (1969)). There is nothing in the majority's opinion in Lau, or in earlier opinions of the Court, that is not fully consistent with the analysis of the concurring Justices or that would have differentiated between private actions to enforce the text of § 601 and private actions to enforce the regulations promulgated pursuant to § 602. See Guardians, 463 U. S., at 591 (principal opinion of White, J.) (describing this history and noting that, up to that point, no Justice had ever expressed disagreement with Justice Stewart's analysis in Lau).2
F. 3d 1352, 1356, n. 5 (CA6 1996); Larry P. v. Riles, 793 F. 2d 969, 981-982 (CA9 1986); Villanueva v. Carere, 85 F. 3d 481, 486 (CA10 1996). No Court of Appeals has ever reached a contrary conclusion. But cf. New York City Environmental Justice Alliance v. Giuliani, 214 F. 3d 65, 72 (CA2 2000) (suggesting that the question may be open).
2 Indeed, it would have been remarkable if the majority had offered any disagreement with the concurring analysis as the concurring Justices grounded their argument in well-established principles for determining the availability of remedies under regulations, principles that all but one Member of the Court had endorsed the previous Term. See Mourning v. Family Publications Service, Inc., 411 U. S. 356, 369 (1973); id., at 378 (Douglas, J., joined by Stewart and Rehnquist, JJ., concurring in part and dissenting in part) (agreeing with the majority's analysis of the regulation in question); but see id., at 383, n. 1 (Powell, J., dissenting) (reserving analysis of the regulation's validity). The other decision the concurring Justices cited for this well-established principle was unanimous and only
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