66
Opinion of the Court
Justice O'Connor delivered the opinion of the Court. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA or Act), 81 Stat. 602, as amended, 29 U. S. C. § 621 et seq. (1994 ed. and Supp. III), makes it unlawful for an employer, including a State, "to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual or otherwise discriminate against any individual . . . because of such individual's age." 29 U. S. C. § 623(a)(1). In these cases, three sets of plaintiffs filed suit under the Act, seeking money damages for their state employers' alleged discrimination on the basis of age. In each case, the state employer moved to dismiss the suit on the basis of its Eleventh Amendment immunity. The District Court in one case granted the motion to dismiss, while in each of the remaining cases the District Court denied the motion. Appeals in the three cases were consolidated before the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, which held that the ADEA does not validly abrogate the States' Eleventh Amendment immunity. In these cases, we are asked to consider whether the ADEA contains a clear
Foley, State Solicitor, Stephen P. Carney, Associate Solicitor, and Matthew J. Lampke, Assistant Solicitor, Paul G. Summers, Attorney General of Tennessee, and Michael E. Moore, Solicitor General, and by the Attorneys General for their respective States as follows: Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, M. Jane Brady of Delaware, Thurbert E. Baker of Georgia, Earl I. Anzai of Hawaii, Alan G. Lance of Idaho, Carla J. Stoval of Kansas, Richard P. Ieyoub of Louisiana, Andrew Ketterer of Maine, Jennifer M. Granholm of Michigan, Mike Moore of Mississippi, Joseph P. Mazurek of Montana, Don Stenberg of Nebraska, Frankie Sue Del Papa of Nevada, John J. Farmer, Jr., of New Jersey, W. A. Drew Edmondson of Oklahoma, Hardy Myers of Oregon, D. Michael Fisher of Pennsylvania, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Jan Graham of Utah, William H. Sorrell of Vermont, and Mark L. Earley of Virginia; for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Republican Caucus, by David R. Fine and John P. Krill, Jr.; and for the Pacific Legal Foundation by Robin L. Rivett and Frank A. Shepherd.
Briefs of amici curiae were filed for the Coalition for Local Sovereignty by Kenneth B. Clark; and for the English Language Advocates by Barnaby W. Zall.
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