Federal versus State Power - Redux · Module 12A
Sovereign and Eleventh Amendment Immunities
When a State can be sued, and by whom. The Eleventh Amendment, the Ex parte Young fiction, and abrogation.
Assigned reading
Chemerinsky, Constitutional Law (7th ed. 2023) — 207–29.
The casebook is the assigned text for this course. This page is the map: what the Module is doing, in what order, and what goes with it.
Topics
How to sue a State. The Eleventh Amendment and the doctrine of state sovereign immunity. Suits against state officers. Abrogation and waiver. Suits against local governments and officials.
Reading list
0 of 6 readings published · the rest are in preparation and will appear here as they are edited
- Opinion Hans v. Louisiana
- Opinion Ex parte Young
- Opinion Edelman v. Jordan
- Opinion Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida
- Opinion Alden v. Maine
- Opinion Central Virginia Community College v. Katz
This module in Canvas
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How to read this list
A case named without a marker is assigned as an opinion and is to be read in its entirety. Opinion (edited) means the Professor has cut it for length; the text on this site is the assigned text. Note means the case is not assigned as an opinion at all — its holding, its facts to the extent they matter, and its place in the doctrinal line are given in a note written for this course, and you are responsible for that note exactly as you are responsible for an assigned opinion. Most modules close with a Current case, a recent decision chosen because it shows the doctrine you have just read being applied at its live edge; current cases are assigned as opinions. You are responsible for all assigned required materials, including the notes, questions, problems and commentary that accompany the cases, whether or not we discuss them in class.