Landmark Publications

Eleventh Amendment Sovereign Immunity Landmark Publications

THIS CASEBOOK contains a selection of U. S. Court of Appeals decisions that analyze, interpret and apply the doctrine of Eleventh Amendment sovereign immunity. * * * The Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution provides: "The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State." U. S. Const. amend. XI. The Supreme Court in Hans v. Louisiana, 134 U. S. 1, 10 S. Ct. 504, 33 L. Ed. 842 (1890), "extended the Eleventh Amendment's reach to suits by in-state plaintiffs, thereby barring all private suits against non-consenting States in federal court." Lombardo v. Pa., Dep't of Pub. Welfare, 540 F.3d 190, 194 (3d Cir. 2008) (emphasis omitted). Immunity from suit in federal court under the Eleventh Amendment is designed to preserve the delicate and "proper balance between the supremacy of federal law and the separate sovereignty of the States." Alden v. Maine, 527 U. S. 706, 757, 119 S. Ct. 2240, 144 L. Ed.2d 636 (1999). The Eleventh Amendment serves two fundamental imperatives: safeguarding the dignity of the states and ensuring their financial solvency. See Hess v. Port Auth. Trans-Hudson Corp., 513 U. S. 30, 52, 115 S. Ct. 394, 130 L. Ed.2d 245 (1994) (identifying "States' solvency and dignity" as the concerns underpinning the Eleventh Amendment). Karns v. Shanahan, 879 F. 3d 504 (3rd Cir. 2018)