Cite as: 532 U. S. 275 (2001)
Stevens, J., dissenting
III
The majority couples its flawed analysis of the structure of Title VI with an uncharitable understanding of the substance of the divide between those on this Court who are reluctant to interpret statutes to allow for private rights of action and those who are willing to do so if the claim of right survives a rigorous application of the criteria set forth in Cort v. Ash, 422 U. S. 66 (1975). As the majority narrates our implied right of action jurisprudence, ante, at 286-287, the Court's shift to a more skeptical approach represents the rejection of a common-law judicial activism in favor of a principled recognition of the limited role of a contemporary "federal tribuna[l]." Ante, at 287. According to its analysis, the recognition of an implied right of action when the text and structure of the statute do not absolutely compel such a conclusion is an act of judicial self-indulgence. As much as we would like to help those disadvantaged by discrimination, we must resist the temptation to pour ourselves "one last drink." Ibid. To do otherwise would be to "ventur[e] beyond Congress's intent." Ibid.
Overwrought imagery aside, it is the majority's approach that blinds itself to congressional intent. While it remains true that, if Congress intends a private right of action to support statutory rights, "the far better course is for it to specify as much when it creates those rights," Cannon, 441
of action to enforce the regulations validly promulgated pursuant to the statute. Ante, at 283, n. 2, 293, n. 8. As the above analysis demonstrates, I do no such thing. On the contrary, I demonstrate that the disparate-impact regulations promulgated pursuant to § 602 are—and have always been considered to be—an important part of an integrated remedial scheme intended to promote the statute's antidiscrimination goals. Given that fact, there is simply no logical or legal justification for differentiating between actions to enforce the regulations and actions to enforce the statutory text. Furthermore, as my integrated approach reflects the longstanding practice of this Court, see n. 2, supra, it is the majority's largely unexplained assumption that a private right of action to enforce the disparate-impact regulations must be independently established that "begs the question."
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