20
Scalia, J., dissenting
a rule; it destroys one that previously existed. It abandons the bright-line rule that only those persons named as such are parties to a judgment, in favor of a vague inquiry "based on context." Ante, at 10 ("The label 'party' does not indicate an absolute characteristic, but rather a conclusion about the applicability of various procedural rules that may differ based on context"). Although the Court does not say how one goes about selecting the result-determinative "context" for its oh-so-sophisticated new inquiry, I gather from its repeated invocation of this phrase that the relevant context in the present case is the "goals of class action litigation," ante, at 10, 11. This means, I suppose, that, in a labor case, who are the parties to a judgment will depend on the goals of the labor laws, and, in a First Amendment case, who are the parties to a judgment will depend on the goals of the First Amendment. Or perhaps not.
What makes this exponential increase in indeterminacy especially unfortunate is the fact that it is utterly unnecessary. Despite the Court's assertion in one breath that treating nonnamed class members as parties is the "only means" by which they would not be "deprive[d] . . . of the power to preserve their . . . interests," ante, at 10, the Court in the next breath concedes that there is another—and very easy— means for nonnamed class members to do just that: becoming parties to the judgment by moving to intervene. Ante, at 12 (noting "the ease with which nonnamed class members who have objected at the fairness hearing could intervene for purposes of appeal"). The Court does not dispute that nonnamed class members will typically meet the requirements for intervention as of right under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24, including intervention only for the purpose of appeal, and even after the class judgment has been entered.4 Ante, at 11-12.
4 It is true that petitioner's motion to intervene was denied as untimely by the District Court. Even if this decision was correct, a question on which petitioner did not seek certiorari, it does not cast doubt on the
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