Wisconsin Dept. of Corrections v. Schacht, 524 U.S. 381, 5 (1998)

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Cite as: 524 U. S. 381 (1998)

Opinion of the Court

defendants in their official capacities will be granted." Id., at 30.

Schacht appealed. He did not assert that the District Court was wrong to have dismissed the claims against the State. He argued only that the court's disposition of the "personal capacity" claims, i. e., the grant of summary judgment, was legally erroneous. During the appeal, the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit itself raised the question whether the removal from state to federal court had been legally permissible. See 116 F. 3d 1151, 1153 (1997). After supplemental briefing, the Court of Appeals concluded that removal had been improper and the federal courts lacked jurisdiction over Schacht's case. Ibid.

The Court of Appeals pointed out that Schacht's original state-court complaint, while presenting only claims arising under federal law, asserted some of those claims against the State. Id., at 1152. The court added that the Eleventh Amendment, as interpreted by this Court, prohibited the assertion of those claims in federal court. Ibid. (citing U. S. Const., Amdt. 11; Hans v. Louisiana, 134 U. S 1, 10 (1890)). The Court of Appeals concluded that the presence of even one such claim in an otherwise removable case deprived the federal courts of removal jurisdiction over the entire case. 116 F. 3d, at 1152-1153 (relying on Frances J. v. Wright, 19 F. 3d 337, 341 (CA7 1994)). Hence, it held, the District Court's judgment must be vacated and the entire case returned to the state court for the litigation to begin all over again. 116 F. 3d, at 1153-1154.

We granted certiorari to review the Seventh Circuit's view of the matter, and the similar views taken in several earlier cases upon which that court relied, see, e. g., Frances J., supra; McKay v. Boyd Constr. Co., 769 F. 2d 1084 (CA5 1985). Those decisions conflict with the decisions of other Courts of Appeals. See, e. g., Kruse v. Hawai'i, 68 F. 3d 331 (CA9 1995); Henry v. Metropolitan Sewer Dist., 922 F. 2d 332 (CA6 1990); see also Silver v. Baggiano, 804 F. 2d 1211 (CA11

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