Cite as: 534 U. S. 533 (2002)
Stevens, J., dissenting
The tolling of statutes of limitations is, of course, an ancient 4 and widespread practice.5 Some federal tolling statutes apply only to federal limitations periods,6 but others apply to state statutes as well.7 All of these statutes are broadly worded, and none of them excludes any special category of defendants. The plain text of all these statutes, in-4 When an equity bill was dismissed to permit the commencement of an action at law, it was the practice of the English courts to consider the statute of limitations tolled during the pendency of the suit in equity. See, e. g., Anonimous, 1 Vern. 73, 73-74, 23 Eng. Rep. 320, 320-321 (Ch. 1682) ("[I]f a man sued in Chancery, and pending the suit here, the statute of limitations attached on his demand, and his bill was afterwards dismissed, as being a matter properly determinable at common law: in such case . . . [the court] would not suffer the statute to be pleaded in bar to his demand"); see also Sturt v. Mellish, 2 Atk. 610, 615, 26 Eng. Rep. 765, 767 (Ch. 1743); MacKenzie v. Marquis of Powis, 7 Brown 282, 288, 3 Eng. Rep. 183, 187 (H. L. 1737).
5 Equitable tolling is a background rule that informs our construction of federal statutes of limitations, Holmberg v. Armbrecht, 327 U. S. 392, 397 (1946), including those statutes conditioning the Federal Government's waiver of immunity to suit, Irwin v. Department of Veterans Affairs, 498 U. S. 89, 95-96 (1990) ("[T]he same rebuttable presumption of equitable tolling applicable to suits against private defendants should also apply to suits against the United States"). The rule also is generally applied by state courts, such as the Minnesota courts adjudicating claims under the Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA). See, e. g., Ochs v. Streater, Inc., 568 N. W. 2d 858, 860 (Minn. App. 1997).
6 See, e. g., 8 U. S. C. § 1182(a)(9)(B)(iv) (tolling an alien's period of unlawful presence in the United States during certain immigration proceedings); 28 U. S. C. § 2263(b) (1994 ed., Supp. V) (tolling the statute of limitations on filing for habeas corpus relief); 29 U. S. C. § 1854(f) (1994 ed., Supp. V) (tolling the statute of limitations on actions for bodily injury or death to a migrant farmworker).
7 See, e. g., 11 U. S. C. § 108 (tolling during bankruptcy); 50 U. S. C. App. § 525 (1994 ed.) (Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act of 1940) (tolling during military service); 15 U. S. C. § 6606(e)(4) (Y2K Act) (tolling during notice and remediation period for Year 2000 related claims); cf. 42 U. S. C. § 9658 (1994 ed.) (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980) (setting uniform limitations-period commencement date in suits under state law for damages due to hazardous release exposure).
551
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