300
Stevens, J., dissenting
in framing their Title VI claim, this case is something of a sport. Litigants who in the future wish to enforce the Title VI regulations against state actors in all likelihood must only reference § 1983 to obtain relief; indeed, the plaintiffs in this case (or other similarly situated individuals) presumably retain the option of rechallenging Alabama's English-only policy in a complaint that invokes § 1983 even after today's decision.
More importantly, the majority's reading of Guardians is strained even in reference to the broader question whether injunctive relief is available to remedy violations of the Title VI regulations by nongovernmental grantees. As Guardians involved an action against a governmental entity, making § 1983 relief available, the Court might have discussed the availability of judicial relief without addressing the scope of the implied private right of action available directly under Title VI. See 463 U. S., at 638 (Stevens, J.) ("Even if it were not settled by now that Title VI authorizes appropriate relief, both prospective and retroactive, to victims of racial discrimination at the hands of recipients of federal funds, the same result would follow in this case because the petitioners have sought relief under 42 U. S. C. § 1983" (emphasis deleted)). However, the analysis in each of the relevant opinions did not do so.6 Rather than focusing on considerations
6 The Court today cites one sentence in my final footnote in Guardians that it suggests is to the contrary. Ante, at 283 (citing 463 U. S., at 645, n. 18). However, the Court misreads that sentence. In his opinion in Guardians, Justice Powell had stated that he would affirm the judgment for the reasons stated in his dissent in Cannon, see 463 U. S., at 609-610 (opinion concurring in judgment), and that he would also hold that private actions asserting violations of Title VI could not be brought under § 1983, id., at 610, and n. 3. One reason that he advanced in support of these conclusions was his view that the standard of proof in a § 1983 action against public officials would differ from the standard in an action against private defendants. Id., at 608, n. 1. In a footnote at the end of my opinion, id., at 645, n. 18, I responded (perhaps inartfully) to Justice
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