Harry Blackmun

“ Kurland, Mr. Justice Frankfurter, the Supreme Court and the Erie Doctrine in Diversity Cases, 67 Yale L.J. 187, 217 (1957) . See Southern Pacific Co., 244 U.S., at 222, 37 S.Ct., at 531 (Holmes, J., dissenting) ("The common law is not a brooding omnipresence in the sky but the articulate voice of some sovereign or quasi-sovereign that can be identified") . Similarly, the bases of state law are as equally communicable to the appellate judges as they are to the district judge. ”

“ As questions of law become the focus of appellate review, it can be expected that the parties' briefs will be refined to bring to bear on the legal issues more information and more comprehensive analysis than was provided for the district judge. Perhaps most important, courts of appeals employ multijudge panels, see 28 U.S.C. §§ 46 (b) and (c) , that permit reflective dialogue and collective judgment. Over 30 years ago, Justice Frankfurter accurately observed:
"Without adequate study there cannot be adequate reflection; without adequate reflection there cannot be adequate discussion ”

“ During her junior year, respondent signed a document that was designated as a "contract" and conditioned her further participation in the nursing program upon weekly attendance at a weight-loss seminar and a realized average loss of two pounds per week. When respondent failed to meet these commitments, she was asked to withdraw from the program and did so. She transferred to a nursing program at another college, but had to repeat her junior year in order to satisfy the transferee institution's 2-year residency requirement. ”

“ In this case, we must decide specifically whether a federal court of appeals may review a district court's determination of state law under a standard less probing than that applied to a determination of federal law.
* The issue presented arises out of a contract dispute between a college and one of its students. Petitioner Salve Regina College is an institution of higher education located in Newport, R.I. Respondent Sharon L. Russell was admitted to the college and began her studies as a freshman in 1982. ”

“ It is sufficient if there has been substantial performance, not necessarily full performance, so long as the substantial performance was in good faith and in compliance with the contract, except for some minor and relatively unimportant deviation or omission. ”

“ National Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, 902 F.2d 1316 (CA8 1990) . See also In re McLinn, 739 F.2d, at 1405 (dissenting opinion) ("The majority overreacts to a problem that is basically one of terminology") . ”