ELEVENTH AMENDMENT
The Eleventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitu-
tion reads:
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.
The text of the Eleventh Amendment limits
the power of federal courts to hear lawsuits
against state governments brought by the citi-
zens of another state or the citizens of a foreign
country. The Supreme Court has also inter-
preted the Eleventh Amendment to bar federal
courts from hearing lawsuits instituted by citi-
zens of the state being sued and lawsuits initi-
ated by the governments of foreign countries.
For example, the state of New York could invoke
the Eleventh Amendment to protect itself from
being sued in federal court by its own residents,
residents of another state, residents of a foreign
country, or the government of a foreign country.
The Eleventh Amendment is rooted in the
concept of FEDERALISM, under which the U.S.
Constitution carefully enumerates the powers of
Congress to govern at the national level, while
safeguarding the power of states to govern locally.
By limiting the power of federal courts to hear
lawsuits brought against state governments, the
Eleventh Amendment attempts to strike a bal-
ance between the sovereignty shared by the state
and federal governments.
“The object and purpose of the Eleventh
Amendment [is] to prevent the indignity of sub-
jecting a state to the coercive process of [federal]
judicial tribunals at the instance of private par-
ties” (Ex parte Ayers, 123 U.S. 443, 8 S. Ct. 164,
31 L. Ed. 216 [1887]). The Eleventh Amendment
highlights an understanding that the state gov-
ernments, while ratifying the federal Constitu-
tion to form a union, “maintain certain
attributes of sovereignty, including sovereign
immunity” from being sued in federal court
(Hans v. Louisiana, 134 U.S. 1, 10 S. Ct. 504, 33
L. Ed. 842 [1890]).
However, the Eleventh Amendment does not
bar all lawsuits brought against state govern-
ments in federal court. Four major exceptions
have been recognized by the Supreme Court.
First, the Eleventh Amendment does not apply
to lawsuits brought against a state’s political sub-
divisions. Accordingly, counties, cities, and
municipalities may be sued in federal court
without regard to the strictures of the Eleventh
Amendment.
The second exception to the Eleventh
Amendment permits a state government to
waive its constitutional protections by consent-
ing to a lawsuit against it in federal court. For
example, Minnesota could waive its Eleventh
Amendment protections by agreeing to allow a
federal court to hear a lawsuit brought against it.
The third exception permits Congress to
abrogate a state’s IMMUNITY from being sued in
federal court by enacting legislation pursuant to
its enforcement powers under the EQUAL PRO-
TECTION and Due Process Clauses of the FOUR-
TEENTH AMENDMENT (Fitzpatrick v. Bitzer, 427
U.S. 445, 96 S. Ct. 2666, 49 L. Ed. 2d 614
[1976]). Congressional intent to abrogate a
state’s Eleventh Amendment immunity must be
