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- SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
- --------
- No. 91-1950
- --------
- AMERICAN DREDGING COMPANY, PETITIONER v.
- WILLIAM ROBERT MILLER
- on writ of certiorari to the supreme court
- of louisiana
- [February 23, 1994]
-
- Justice Souter, concurring.
- I join in the opinion of the Court because I agree that
- in most cases the characterization of a state rule as
- substantive or procedural will be a sound surrogate for
- the conclusion that would follow from a more discursive
- preemption analysis. The distinction between substance
- and procedure will, however, sometimes be obscure. As
- to those close cases, how a given rule is characterized
- for purposes of determining whether federal maritime
- law pre-empts state law will turn on whether the state
- rule unduly interferes with the federal interest in
- maintaining the free flow of maritime commerce.
-