Alito, J., dissenting
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
No. 21–806
HEALTH AND HOSPITAL CORPORATION OF MARION COUNTY, ET AL., PETITIONERS v. IVANKA TALEVSKI, AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF GORGI TALEVSKI, DECEASED
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SEVENTH CIRCUIT
[June 8, 2023]
Justice Alito, with whom Justice Thomas joins, dissenting.
I agree with the Court’s understanding of the high bar required to bring an action under 42 U. S. C. §1983 for the violation of a federal statute, but I disagree with how that standard applies in this case. In my view, while respondent has established that the Federal Nursing Home Reform Act (FNHRA) creates individual rights, petitioners have established that relief for the violation of those rights under §1983 is foreclosed by the remedial scheme in the Act.
I
The majority and Justice Barrett correctly identify the plaintiff’s burden under §1983: a statute “must unambiguously confer individual federal rights” to create “rights” within the meaning of §1983, and “Gonzaga sets forth our established method for ascertaining unambiguous conferral.” Ante, at 11, 14 (majority opinion); see ante, at 1–2 (Barrett, J., concurring); Gonzaga Univ. v. Doe, 536 U. S. 273 (2002). In other words, “if Congress wishes to create new rights enforceable under §1983, it must do so in clear and unambiguous terms.” Id., at 290. Because the standard demands “no less and no more than what is required for
