Alden V. Maine - The Opinion of The Court

The Opinion of The Court

In a 5-4 ruling, the Court concluded that Article I of the United States Constitution does not provide Congress with the ability to subject nonconsenting states to private suits for damages in its own courts. In addition, the Court held that Maine was not a consenting party in the suit, and, therefore, the ruling of the Supreme Court of Maine was upheld. Writing for the Court, Justice Anthony Kennedy stated that the United States Constitution provides immunity for nonconsenting states from suits filed by citizens of that state or citizens of any other state, noting that such immunity is often referred to as "Eleventh Amendment Immunity". Such immunity, the Court continued, is necessary to maintain the state sovereignty that lies at the heart of federalism. However, according to Alden v. Maine, "sovereign immunity derives not from the Eleventh Amendment but from the federal structure of the original Constitution itself."

After discussing the Eleventh Amendment, the Court turned to the question of whether Congress has the authority, under Article I of the United States Constitution, to subject nonconsenting states to private suits in their own courts. The majority ruled that Congress has no such authority, under the original unamended Constitution, to abrogate states' sovereign immunity:

Nor can we conclude that the specific Article I powers delegated to Congress necessarily include, by virtue of the Necessary and Proper Clause or otherwise, the incidental authority to subject the States to private suits as a means of achieving objectives otherwise within the scope of the enumerated powers.

However, Congress may abrogate sovereign immunity when the suit is to enforce a statute protecting Fourteenth Amendment rights: "We have held also that in adopting the Fourteenth Amendment, the people required the States to surrender a portion of the sovereignty that had been preserved...Congress may authorize private suits against nonconsenting States pursuant to its §5 enforcement power...When Congress enacts appropriate legislation to enforce this Amendment, see City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507 (1997), federal interests are paramount"

The majority stated that the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution only applies to pieces of legislation that fit within its design. Therefore, any law passed by Congress pursuant to Article I that seeks to subject states to suit would violate the original, unamended Constitution. However, states do not have sovereign immunity if Congress is enforcing the Fourteenth Amendment. See, for example, Fitzpatrick v. Bitzer (1976).