Venue: |
SCOTUS
|
|
Facts: |
ME employs some people, and they think that the state violated the
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) provisions about overtime pay. |
|
Posture: |
Filed in federal court, but the Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida
is decided, and that says that Congress can't abrogate State
sovereign immunity, so they re-file in state court. Dismissed. |
|
Issue: |
Can congress require nonconsenting states to answer private suits in
state court? |
|
Holding: |
No. Affirmed. |
|
Rule: |
11A codifies sovereign immunity. |
|
Reasoning: |
The power to press a state's own courts into federal service to coerce
other branches of the state is the power to commandeer the whole
machinery of the state. There are limits on that immunity: states
can waive it, 14A allows some causes of action. But basically if
congress wants to make states do something, they can't use the
states to get it done. |
|
Dicta: |
The allocation of scarce resources among competing needs an interests
lies at the heart of the political process. |
|