Spector v. Norwegian Cruise Line Ltd.Spector v. Norwegian Cruise Line Ltd.
David B. Salmons argued the cause for the United States as amicus curiae in support of petitioners. With him on the brief were Acting Solicitor General Clement, Assistant Attorney General Acosta, Dennis J. Dimsey, Jeffrey A. Rosen, and Paul M. Geier.
David C. Frederick argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief were Mark E. Warren, Thomas H. Wilson, Michael J. Muskat, and Michael F. Sturley.
Gregory G. Garre argued the cause for the Commonwealth of the Bahamas et al. as amici curiae in support of respondent. With him on the brief was Christopher T. Handman.*
This case presents the question whether Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA),
Our cases hold that a clear statement of congressional intent is necessary before a general statutory requirement can interfere with matters that concern a foreign-flag vessel‘s internal affairs and operations, as contrasted with statutory requirements that concern the security and well-being of United States citizens or territory. While the clear statement rule could limit Title III‘s application to foreign-flag cruise ships in some instances, when it requires removal of physical barriers, it would appear the rule is inapplicable to many other duties Title III might impose. We therefore reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that the ADA is altogether inapplicable to foreign vessels, and we remand for further proceedings.
The respondent Norwegian Cruise Line Ltd. (NCL), a Bermuda corporation with a principal place of business in Miami, Florida, operates cruise ships that depart from, and return to, ports in the United States. The ships are essentially floating resorts. They provide passengers with staterooms or cabins, food, and entertainment. The cruise ships stop at different ports of call where passengers may disembark. Most of the passengers on these cruises are United States residents; under the terms and conditions of the tickets, disputes between passengers and NCL are to be governed by United States law; and NCL relies upon extensive advertising in the United States to promote its cruises and increase its revenues.
Despite the fact that the cruises are operated by a company based in the United States, serve predominantly United States residents, and are in most other respects United States-centered ventures, almost all of NCL‘s cruise ships are registered in other countries, flying so-called flags of convenience. The two NCL cruise ships that are the subject of the present litigation, the Norwegian Sea and the Norwegian Star, are both registered in the Bahamas.
The petitioners are disabled individuals and their companions who purchased tickets in 1998 or 1999 for round-trip cruises on the Norwegian Sea or the Norwegian Star, with departures from Houston, Texas. Naming NCL as the defendant, the petitioners filed a class action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas on behalf of all persons similarly situated. They sought declaratory and injunctive relief under Title III of the ADA, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability. The petitioners asserted that cruise ships are covered both by Title III‘s prohibition on discrimination in places of “public accommodation,”
The District Court held that, as a general matter, Title III applies to foreign-flag cruise ships in United States territorial waters. Civ. Action No. H-00-2649 (SD Tex., Sept. 10, 2002), App. to Pet. for Cert. 35a. The District Court found, however, that the petitioners’ claims regarding physical barriers to access could not go forward because the agencies charged with promulgating architectural and structural guidelines for ADA compliance (the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Justice) had not done so for cruise ships. In these circumstances, the court held, it is unclear what structural modifications NCL would need to make. Id., at 36a-42a. The District Court granted NCL‘s motion to dismiss the barrier-removal claims, but denied NCL‘s motion with respect to all the other claims. Id., at 47a.
The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part. It reasoned that our cases, particularly Benz v. Compania Naviera Hidalgo, S. A., 353 U. S. 138 (1957), and McCulloch v. Sociedad Nacional de Marineros de Honduras, 372 U. S. 10 (1963), stand for the proposition that general statutes do not apply to foreign-flag vessels in United States territory absent a clear indication of congressional intent. 356 F. 3d, at 644 (“[T]o apply domestic law to foreign vessels entering United States waters, there must be present the affirmative intention of the Congress clearly expressed” (quoting Benz, supra, at 147; internal quotation marks omitted)); 356 F. 3d, at 646 (Benz and McCulloch “prohibit United States courts from applying domestic statutes to foreign-flagged ships without specific evidence
The action was ordered dismissed for failure to state a claim,
II
A
1
Title III of the ADA prohibits discrimination against the disabled in the full and equal enjoyment of public accommodations,
These specific requirements, in turn, are subject to important exceptions and limitations. Eligibility criteria that screen out disabled individuals are permitted when “necessary for the provision” of the services or facilities being offered,
Although the statutory definitions of “public accommodation” and “specified public transportation” do not expressly mention cruise ships, there can be no serious doubt that the NCL cruise ships in question fall within both definitions under conventional principles of interpretation.
2
This Court has long held that general statutes are presumed to apply to conduct that takes place aboard a foreign-flag vessel in United States territory if the interests of the United States or its citizens, rather than interests internal to the ship, are at stake. See Cunard S. S. Co. v. Mellon, 262 U. S. 100, 127 (1923) (holding that the general terms of the National Prohibition Act apply to foreign-flag ships in United States waters because “[t]here is in the act no provision making it [in]applicable” to such ships); Uravic v. F. Jarka Co., 282 U. S. 234, 240 (1931) (holding that “general words” should be “generally applied” and that therefore there is “no reason for limiting the liability for torts committed [aboard foreign-flag ships in United States territory] when they go beyond the scope of discipline and private matters that do not interest the territorial power“). The general rule that United States statutes apply to foreign-flag ships in United States territory is subject only to a narrow exception. Absent a clear statement of congressional intent, general statutes may not apply to foreign-flag vessels insofar as they regulate matters that involve only the internal order and discipline of the vessel, rather than the peace of the port. This qualification derives from the understanding that, as a matter of international comity, “all matters of discipline and all things done on board which affec[t] only the vessel or those belonging to her, and [do] not involve the peace or dignity of the country, or the tranquility of the port, should be left by the local government to be dealt with by the authorities of the nation to which the vessel belonged.” Wildenhus‘s Case, 120 U. S. 1, 12 (1887). This exception to the usual presumption, however, does not extend beyond
The two cases in recent times in which the presumption against applying general statutes to foreign vessels’ internal affairs has been invoked, Benz and McCulloch, concern labor relations. The Court held that the general terms of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA),
This narrow clear statement rule is supported by sound principles of statutory construction. It is reasonable to presume Congress intends no interference with matters that are primarily of concern only to the ship and the foreign state
Cruise ships flying foreign flags of convenience offer public accommodations and transportation services to over 7 million United States residents annually, departing from and returning to ports located in the United States. Large numbers of disabled individuals, many of whom have mobility impairments that make other kinds of vacation travel difficult, take advantage of these cruises or would like to do so. To hold there is no Title III protection for disabled persons who seek to use the amenities of foreign cruise ships would be a harsh and unexpected interpretation of a statute designed to provide broad protection for the disabled.
The relevant category for which the Court demands a clear congressional statement, then, consists not of all applications of a statute to foreign-flag vessels but only those applications that would interfere with the foreign vessel‘s internal affairs. This proposition does not mean the clear statement rule is irrelevant to the ADA, however. If Title III by its terms does impose duties that interfere with a foreign-flag cruise ship‘s internal affairs, the lack of a clear congressional statement can mean that those specific applications of Title III are precluded. On remand, the Court of Appeals may need to consider which, if any, Title III requirements interfere
B
1
The precise content of the category “internal affairs” (or, as it is variously denoted in the case law, “internal order” or “internal operations“) is difficult to define with precision. There is, moreover, some ambiguity in our cases as to whether the relevant category of activities is restricted to matters that affect only the internal order of the ship when there is no effect on United States interests, or whether the clear statement rule further comes into play if the predominant effect of a statutory requirement is on a foreign ship‘s internal affairs but the requirement also promotes the welfare of United States residents or territory. We need not attempt to define the relevant protected category with precision. It suffices to observe that the guiding principles in determining whether the clear statement rule is triggered are the desire for international comity and the presumed lack of interest by the territorial sovereign in matters that bear no substantial relation to the peace and tranquility of the port.
It is plain that Title III might impose any number of duties on cruise ships that have nothing to do with a ship‘s internal affairs. The pleadings and briefs in this case illustrate, but do not exhaust, the ways a cruise ship might offend such a duty. The petitioners allege NCL charged disabled passengers higher fares and required disabled passengers to pay special surcharges, Plaintiffs’ First Amended Original Complaint in No. H-00-2649 (SD Tex.), ¶ 32, App. 15 (hereinafter Complaint); Brief for Petitioners 17-20; maintained evacuation programs and equipment in locations not accessible to disabled individuals, Complaint ¶ 19, App. 12; Brief for Petitioners 21; required disabled individuals, but
At least one subset of the petitioners’ allegations, however, would appear to involve requirements that might be construed as relating to the internal affairs of foreign-flag cruise ships. These allegations concern physical barriers to access on board. For example, according to the petitioners, most of the cabins on NCL‘s cruise ships, including the most attractive cabins in the most desirable locations, are not accessible to disabled passengers. Brief for Petitioners 17-18; Complaint ¶ 16, App. 11. The petitioners also allege that the ships’ coamings—the raised edges around their doors—make many areas of the ships inaccessible to mobility-impaired passengers who use wheelchairs or scooters. Brief for Petitioners 24. Removal of these and other access barriers, the petitioners suggest, may be required by Title III‘s structural barrier-removal requirement,
Although these physical barriers affect the passengers as well as the ship and its crew, the statutory requirement could mandate a permanent and significant alteration of a physical feature of the ship—that is, an element of basic ship design
2
Title III requires barrier removal if it is “readily achievable,”
Surely a barrier-removal requirement under Title III that would bring a vessel into noncompliance with the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), Nov. 1, 1974, [1979–1980] 32 U. S. T. 47, T. I. A. S. No. 9700, or any other international legal obligation, would create serious difficulties for the vessel and would have a substantial im-
It is logical and proper to conclude, moreover, that whether a barrier modification is “readily achievable” under Title III must take into consideration the modification‘s effect on shipboard safety. A separate provision of Title III mandates that the statute‘s nondiscrimination and accommodation requirements do not apply if disabled individuals would pose “a significant risk to the health or safety of others that cannot be eliminated by a modification of policies, practices, or procedures or by the provision of auxiliary aids or services,”
Because Title III does not require structural modifications that would conflict with international legal obligations or pose any real threat to the safety of the crew or other passengers, it may well follow—though we do not decide the question here—that Title III does not require any permanent and significant structural modifications that interfere with the internal affairs of any cruise ship, foreign flag or domestic. If that is indeed the case, recourse to the clear statement rule would not be necessary.
Cases may arise, however, where it is prudent for a court to turn first to the internal affairs clear statement rule rather than deciding the precise scope and operation of the statute. Suppose, for example, it is a difficult question whether a particular Title III barrier-removal requirement is readily achievable, but the requirement does entail a permanent and significant structural modification, interfering with a foreign ship‘s internal affairs. In that case a court sensibly could invoke the clear statement rule without determining whether Title III actually imposes the requirement. On the other hand, there may be many cases where it is not obvious that a particular physical modification relates to a vessel‘s basic architecture and construction, but it is clear the modification would conflict with SOLAS or some other international legal obligation. In those cases, a court may deem it appropriate to hold that the physical barrier modification in question is not readily achievable, without resort to the clear statement rule.
III
A
In light of the preceding analysis, it is likely that under a proper interpretation of “readily achievable” Title III would impose no requirements that interfere with the internal affairs of foreign-flag cruise ships. If Title III did impose a duty that required cruise ships to make permanent and sig-
This application-by-application use of the internal affairs clear statement rule is consistent with how the rule has traditionally operated. In Benz and McCulloch, the Court concluded that the NLRA did not apply to labor relations between a foreign-flag ship and its foreign crew because of interference with the foreign ships’ internal affairs. In Ariadne Shipping, however, the Court held that the NLRA does apply to labor relations between a foreign-flag ship and American longshoremen. Ariadne Shipping acknowledged the clear statement rule invoked in Benz and McCulloch but held that the “considerations that informed the Court‘s construction of the statute in [those cases] are clearly inapplicable” to the question whether the statute applies to foreign ships’ labor relations with American longshoremen. 397 U. S., at 199. Ariadne Shipping held that the longshoremen‘s “short-term, irregular and casual connection with the [foreign] vessels plainly belied any involvement on their part with the ships’ ‘internal discipline and order.‘” Id., at 200. Therefore, application of the NLRA to foreign ships’ relations with American longshoremen “would have threatened no interference in the internal affairs of foreign-flag ships.” Ibid. If the clear statement rule restricts some applications of the NLRA to foreign ships (e. g., labor relations with the foreign crew), but not others (e. g., labor relations with American longshoremen), it follows that the case-by-case application is also required under Title III of the ADA. The rule, where it is even necessary to invoke it, would restrict
The internal affairs clear statement rule is an implied limitation on otherwise unambiguous general terms of the statute. It operates much like the principle that general statutes are construed not to apply extraterritorially, EEOC v. Arabian American Oil Co., 499 U. S. 244, 260 (1991), or the rule that general statutes are presumed not to impose monetary liability on nonconsenting States, Atascadero State Hospital v. Scanlon, 473 U. S. 234 (1985). Implied limitation rules avoid applications of otherwise unambiguous statutes that would intrude on sensitive domains in a way that Congress is unlikely to have intended had it considered the matter. In these instances, the absence of a clear congressional statement is, in effect, equivalent to a statutory qualification saying, for example, “Notwithstanding any general language of this statute, this statute shall not apply extraterritorially“; or “... this statute shall not abrogate the sovereign immunity of nonconsenting States“; or “... this statute does not regulate the internal affairs of foreign-flag vessels.” These clear statement rules ensure Congress does not, by broad or general language, legislate on a sensitive topic inadvertently or without due deliberation. An all-or-nothing approach, under which a statute is altogether inapplicable if but one of its specific applications trenches on the domain protected by a clear statement rule, would convert the clear statement rule from a principle of interpretive caution into a trap for an unwary Congress. If Congress passes broad legislation that has some applications that implicate a clear statement rule—say, some extraterritorial applications, or some applications that would regulate foreign ships’ internal affairs—an all-or-nothing approach would require that the entire statute, or some arbitrary set of applications larger than the domain protected by the clear statement rule, would be nullified. We decline to adopt that posture.
Our holding that the clear statement rule operates only when a ship‘s internal affairs are affected does not implicate our holding in Clark v. Martinez, 543 U. S. 371 (2005). Martinez held that statutory language given a limiting construction in one context must be interpreted consistently in other contexts, “even though other of the statute‘s applications, standing alone, would not support the same limitation.” Id., at 380. This was simply a rule of consistent interpretation of the statutory words, with no bearing on the implementation of a clear statement rule addressed to particular statutory applications.
The statute in Martinez,
Martinez gives full respect to the distinction between rules for resolving textual ambiguity and implied limitations on otherwise unambiguous text. Indeed, Martinez relies on
The internal affairs clear statement rule is an implied limitation rule, not a principle for resolving textual ambiguity. Our cases, then, do not compel or permit the conclusion that if any one application of Title III might interfere with a foreign-flag ship‘s internal affairs, Title III is inapplicable to foreign ships in every other instance.
* * *
The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that general statutes do not apply to foreign-flag ships in United
Title III‘s own limitations and qualifications prevent the statute from imposing requirements that would conflict with international obligations or threaten shipboard safety. These limitations and qualifications, though framed in general terms, employ a conventional vocabulary for instructing courts in the interpretation and application of the statute. If, on remand, it becomes clear that even after these limitations are taken into account Title III nonetheless imposes certain requirements that would interfere with the internal affairs of foreign ships—perhaps, for example, by requiring permanent and substantial structural modifications—the clear statement rule would come into play. It is also open to the court on remand to consider application of the clear statement rule at the outset if, as a prudential matter, that appears to be the more appropriate course.
We reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals and remand the case for further proceedings.
It is so ordered.
JUSTICE GINSBURG, with whom JUSTICE BREYER joins, concurring in part and concurring in the judgment.
I agree with the Court‘s holding that Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 covers cruise ships, ante, at 129, and allows them to resist modifications “that would conflict with international legal obligations,” ante, at 137 (plurality opinion). I therefore join Parts I, II-A-1,
The first of the modern cases to address the application of a domestic statute to a foreign-flag ship in U. S. waters, Benz v. Compania Naviera Hidalgo, S. A., 353 U. S. 138 (1957), did not resort to the tag, “internal affairs” rule, to explain the Court‘s decision.2 Benz held that the Labor Management Relations Act did not reach relations between “a foreign employer and a foreign crew operating under an agreement made abroad under the laws of another nation.” Id., at 142. As we concluded in Benz, before reading our law to “run interference in such a delicate field of international relations,” “where the possibilities of international discord are so evident and retaliative action so certain,” the Court should await Congress’ clearly expressed instruction. Id., at 147.
The noninterference principle underlying the internal affairs clear statement rule is served in this case by the Court‘s interpretation of Title III‘s “readily achievable” provision,
The plurality, however, suggests that the clear statement rule has a further office: It may block structural modifications prompted by Title III that are “readily achievable“—because they do not conflict with international legal obligations—but nonetheless “interfer[e] with a foreign ship‘s
As the plurality rightly notes, Title III is a broad remedial statute designed to protect persons with disabilities in a variety of activities and settings. See ante, at 132;
When a law regulates the internal order of ships, Congress must clearly express its intent to apply the law to foreign-flag ships. Ante, at 130-132 (plurality opinion); post, at 149-150 (SCALIA, J., dissenting). I agree with JUSTICE SCALIA that this rule applies to any structural changes to a ship that Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) might require, for such changes to a ship‘s physical structure pertain to its internal affairs. Post, at 151 (dissenting opinion); see ante, at 134-135 (plurality opinion). I further agree with JUSTICE SCALIA that this clear statement rule applies once the possibility, rather than the certainty, of international discord arises; and that the clear statement rule therefore does not require or permit the kind of express conflicts-of-law analysis that the plurality demands. Post, at 153-155 (dissenting opinion); ante, at 135-136 (majority opinion), 137 (plurality opinion). Moreover, I do not think that courts should (as the plurality permits) employ the rule selectively, applying it when “prudent” but declining to apply it when “appropriate.” Ante, at 137 (plurality opinion); see also post, at 158, n. 8 (SCALIA, J., dissenting); Small v. United States, 544 U.S. 385, 405 (2005) (THOMAS, J., dissenting) (“Whatever the utility of canons as guides to congressional intent, they are useless when modified in ways that Congress could never have imagined“). For those reasons, I join Part I-A of JUSTICE SCALIA‘s dissent. While I conclude that the rule applies to certain aspects of Title III, I agree with the plurality that it does not require an “all-or-nothing approach.” Ante, at 139. Consequently, those applications of Title III that do not pertain to internal affairs apply to foreign-flag vessels. For that reason, I join Part III-A of the plurality opinion.
I reach this result, however, only because I continue to reject the “lowest common denominator” principle the Court articulated for the first time in Clark v. Martinez, 543 U. S. 371 (2005). See id., at 395-397 (THOMAS, J., dissenting). The plurality, by contrast, accepts Clark. Moreover, it claims that applying Title III of the ADA to matters that are not within the realm of a ship‘s internal order is consistent with Clark. The plurality‘s efforts to distinguish Clark are implausible.
The plurality says that today‘s case differs from Clark because it invokes a clear statement rule to interpret unambiguous text. According to the plurality, Clark concerned the application of a previously adopted limiting construction of ambiguous text, which this Court imposed to ameliorate unrelated constitutional doubts. Ante, at 140-141. As an initial matter, however, the statute at issue in Zadvydas v. Davis, 533 U. S. 678 (2001), and Clark was not ambiguous. Clark, supra, at 402-403 (THOMAS, J., dissenting). Even assuming for the sake of argument that it was ambiguous, the distinction the plurality draws has no basis in Clark. In Clark, this Court addressed the period of detention
Today‘s decision, then, cabins the Clark principle to apply only when the canon of constitutional avoidance is invoked to choose among ambiguous readings of a statute. But even here Clark will continue to make mischief. As I explained in Clark, the lowest common denominator principle requires courts to search out a single hypothetical constitutionally doubtful case to limit a statute‘s terms in the wholly different case actually before the court, lest the court fail to adopt a reading of the statute that reflects the lowest common denominator. Id., at 400 (dissenting opinion). This requires a reverse-Salerno analysis that upends our facial challenge requirements. See Clark, supra, at 381-382; see also United States v. Salerno, 481 U. S. 739, 745 (1987) (for a facial challenge to succeed, there must be no circumstance in which
In sum, I believe that Title III of the ADA, insofar as it requires structural changes, lacks a sufficiently clear statement that it applies to the internal affairs of foreign vessels. In my view the clear statement rule does not render Title III entirely inapplicable to foreign vessels; instead, Title III applies to foreign ships only to the extent to which it does not bear on their internal affairs. I therefore would remand for consideration of those Title III claims that do not pertain to the structure of the ship. Accordingly, I concur in Part III-A of the plurality opinion, join Part I-A of JUSTICE SCALIA‘s dissent, and concur in the judgment in part.
JUSTICE SCALIA, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE and JUSTICE O‘CONNOR join, and with whom JUSTICE THOMAS joins as to Part I-A, dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. The plurality correctly recognizes that Congress must clearly express its intent to apply its laws to foreign-flag ships when those laws interfere with the ship‘s internal order. Its attempt to place Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) outside this rule through creative statutory interpretation and piecemeal application of its provisions is unsupported by our case law. Title III plainly affects the internal order of foreign-flag cruise ships, subjecting them to the possibility of conflicting international obligations. I would hold that, since there is no clear statement of coverage, Title III does not apply to foreign-flag cruise ships.
I
A
As the plurality explains, where a law would interfere with the regulation of a ship‘s internal order, we require a clear statement that Congress intended such a result. See
The clear-statement rule finds support not only in Benz and McCulloch, but in cases like Cunard S. S. Co. v. Mellon, 262 U. S. 100, 128-129 (1923), where we held that the National Prohibition Act, 41 Stat. 305, forbade foreign-flag ships from carrying or serving alcohol in United States territorial waters. Though we did not say so expressly in that case, prohibiting the carrying and serving of alcohol in United States waters cannot be said to affect the “internal order” of the ship, because it does not in any way affect the operation or functioning of the craft.1 Similarly, in Lauritzen v. Larsen, 345 U. S. 571 (1953), and Hellenic Lines Ltd. v. Rhoditis, 398 U. S. 306 (1970), we did not employ a clear-statement rule in determining whether foreign seamen injured aboard foreign-flag ships could recover under the Jones Act, 41 Stat. 1007,
Moreover, the structural changes petitioners request would be permanent. Whereas a ship precluded from serving or carrying alcohol in United States waters may certainly carry and serve alcohol on its next trip from Italy to Greece, structural modifications made to comply with American laws cannot readily be removed once the ship leaves our waters and ceases to carry American passengers. This is again much like the situation presented in Benz and McCulloch, where the application of American labor laws would have continued to govern contracts between foreign shipowners and their foreign crews well beyond their time in our waters.
The purpose of the “internal order” clear-statement requirement is to avoid casually subjecting oceangoing vessels to laws that pose obvious risks of conflict with the laws of the
Similar inconsistencies may exist between Title III‘s structural requirements and the disability laws of other countries. The United Kingdom, for example, is considering the promulgation of rules to govern handicapped accessibility to passenger vehicles, including cruise ships. The rules being considered currently include exact specifications, down to the centimeter, for the height of handrails, beds, and elec-
The Court asserts that Title III would not produce conflicts with the requirements of SOLAS and would not compromise safety concerns. This argument comes at the expense of an expansive en passant interpretation of the exceptions to the barrier-removal requirements of Title III—which interpretation will likely have more significant nationwide effects than the Court‘s holding concerning Title III‘s application to foreign-flag vessels. Assuming, however, that the argument is even correct,3 it is entirely beside the point. It has never been a condition for application of the foreign-flag clear-statement rule that an actual conflict with foreign or international law be established—any more than that has been a condition for application of the clear-statement rule regarding extraterritorial effect of congres-
Safety concerns—and specifically safety as related to ship structure—are traditionally the responsibility of the flag state. Which is to say they are regarded as part of the ship‘s internal order. And even if Title III makes ample provision for a safety exception to the barrier-removal requirements, what it considers necessary for safety is not necessarily what other nations or international treaties consider necessary.
The foregoing renders quite unnecessary the Court‘s worry that Title III might require American cruise ships to adhere to Congress‘s prescription in violation of SOLAS. See ante, at 135-136. If and when that possibility presents itself, the Court remains free to do what it does here: to interpret Title III so as to avoid any conflict. But the avail-
B
The plurality holds that, even “[i]f Title III did impose a duty that required [foreign-flag] cruise ships to make permanent and significant structural modifications[,] or ... otherwise interfered with a foreign ship‘s internal affairs, ... Title III requirements having nothing to do with internal affairs would continue to apply to domestic and foreign ships alike.” Ante, at 137-138. I disagree. Whether or not Title III‘s prescriptions regarding such matters implicate the “internal order” of the ship, they still relate to the ships’ maritime operations and are part of the same Title III.6 The requirements of that enactment either apply to foreign-flag ships or
The plurality‘s assertion that those portions of Title III that do not implicate a ship‘s internal order apply to foreign-flag ships displays a confusion between a principle of interpretation based upon a true-to-fact presumption of congressional intent, and a court-made rule. The plurality seems to forget that it is a matter of determining whether Congress in fact intended that its enactment cover foreign-flag ships. To believe that there was any such intent section-by-section and paragraph-by-paragraph is delusional. Either Congress enacted Title III only with domestic entities (and not foreign-flag ships) in mind, or it intended Title III to apply across-the-board. It could not possibly be the real congressional intent that foreign-flag cruise ships be considered “place[s] of public accommodation” or “specified public transportation” for purposes of certain provisions but not for others. That Congress had separate foreign-flag intent with respect to each requirement—and would presumably adopt a clear statement provision-by-provision—is utterly implausible. And far from its being the case that this creates “a trap for an unwary Congress,” ante, at 139, it is the plurality‘s disposition that, in piecemeal fashion, applies to foreign-flag ships provisions never enacted with foreign-flag vessels in mind.7 We recently addressed a similar question
This does not mean that a clear statement is required whenever a court applies Title III to any entity—only that a clear statement is required to apply any part of Title III to foreign-flag ships. Raygor v. Regents of Univ. of Minn., 534 U. S. 533 (2002), and Jinks v. Richland County, 538 U. S. 456 (2003), do not dictate otherwise. Raygor held that
II
As the Court appears to concede, neither the “public accommodation” provision nor the “specified public transportation” provision of Title III clearly covers foreign-flag cruise ships. The former prohibits discrimination “on the basis of disability in the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of any place of public accommodation by any person who owns, leases (or leases to), or operates a place of public accommodation.”
The “specified public transportation” provision prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability “in the full and equal
Title III of the ADA stands in contrast to other statutes in which Congress has made clear its intent to extend its laws to foreign ships. For example, the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act, 94 Stat. 1159,
That the Department of Justice and the Department of Transportation—the executive agencies charged with enforcing the ADA—appear to have concluded that Congress intended Title III to apply to foreign-flag cruise ships does not change my view. We “accept only those agency interpretations that are reasonable in light of the principles of construction courts normally employ.” ARAMCO, 499 U. S. 244, 260 (1991) (SCALIA, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment) (declining to adopt the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission‘s determination that Title VII applied to employers abroad); see also id., at 257-258 (opinion of the Court) (same). In light of our longstanding clear-statement rule, it is not reasonable to apply Title III here.
I would therefore affirm the Fifth Circuit‘s judgment that Title III of the ADA does not apply to foreign-flag cruise ships in United States territorial waters.