INTERGOVERNMENTAL IMMUNITY DOCTRINE
A principle established under CONSTITUTIONAL LAW that prevents the federal government and individual state governments from intruding on one another’s sovereignty. Intergovernmental immunity is intended to keep government agencies from restricting the rights of other government agencies.
The principle of intergovernmental immu-
nity was established by the U.S. Supreme Court
in MCCULLOCH V. MARYLAND, 17 U.S. at 426
(1819), in which Chief Justice JOHN MARSHALL
and his fellow justices ruled unanimously that
states may not regulate property or operations
of the federal government. (Under Maryland
state law, banks not chartered by the state were
subject to restrictions and taxes; the state gov-
ernment had attempted to impose these restric-
