Boys Markets, Inc. v. Retail Clerk's Union, Local 770/Concurrence Stewart

Mr. Justice STEWART, concurring.

When Sinclair Refining Co. v. Atkinson, 370 U.S. 195, 82 S.Ct. 1328, 8 L.Ed.2d 440, was decided in 1962, I subscribed to the opinion of the Court. Before six years had passed I had reached the conclusion that the Sinclair holding should be reconsidered, and said so in Avco Corp. v. Aero Lodge 735, 390 U.S. 557, 562, 88 S.Ct. 1235, 1238, 20 L.Ed.2d 126 (concurring opinion). Today I join the Court in concluding 'that Sinclair was erroneously decided and that subsequent events have undermined its continuing validity * *  * .'

In these circumstances the temptation is strong to embark upon a lengthy personal apologia. But since Mr. Justice BRENNAN has so clearly stated my present views in his opinion for the Court today, I simply join in that opinion and in the Court's judgment. An aphorism of Mr. Justice Frankfurter provides me refuge: 'Wisdom too often never comes, and so one ought not to reject it merely because it comes late.' Henslee v. Union Planters Bank, 335 U.S. 595, 600, 69 S.Ct. 290, 293, 93 L.Ed. 259 (dissenting opinion).

Mr. Justice BLACK, dissenting.