148
Opinion of the Court
ton Supreme Court is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.10
It is so ordered.
10 Respondents contend in passing that § 409 violates the principles of dual sovereignty embodied in the Tenth Amendment because it prohibits a State from exercising its sovereign powers to establish discovery and admissibility rules to be used in state court for a state cause of action. See Brief for Respondents 44-46. The court below did not address this precise argument, reasoning instead that the 1995 amendment to § 409 was beyond Congress' enumerated powers. We ordinarily do not decide in the first instance issues not resolved below and decline to do so here. See, e. g., National Collegiate Athletic Assn. v. Smith, 525 U. S. 459, 470 (1999). Moreover, in light of our disposition on this issue, we need not address the second question on which we granted certiorari: whether private plaintiffs have standing to assert "states' rights" under the Tenth Amendment where their States' legislative and executive branches expressly approve and accept the benefits and terms of the federal statute in question.
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