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Opinion of the Court
ficult to engage in additional meaningful debate on the place of state sovereign immunity in the Constitution. Compare Hans, 134 U. S., at 10, 14-16, with post, at 97 (Stevens, J., dissenting in part and concurring in part). Today we adhere to our holding in Seminole Tribe: Congress' powers under Article I of the Constitution do not include the power to subject States to suit at the hands of private individuals.
Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment, however, does grant Congress the authority to abrogate the States' sovereign immunity. In Fitzpatrick v. Bitzer, 427 U. S. 445 (1976), we recognized that "the Eleventh Amendment, and the principle of state sovereignty which it embodies, are necessarily limited by the enforcement provisions of § 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment." Id., at 456 (citation omitted). Since our decision in Fitzpatrick, we have reaffirmed the validity of that congressional power on numerous occasions. See, e. g., College Savings Bank, supra, at 670; Florida Pre-paid, supra, at 636-637; Alden, supra, at 756; Seminole Tribe, supra, at 59. Accordingly, the private petitioners in these cases may maintain their ADEA suits against the States of Alabama and Florida if, and only if, the ADEA is appropriate legislation under § 5.
B
The Fourteenth Amendment provides, in relevant part:
"Section 1. . . . No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
. . . . . "Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article."
As we recognized most recently in City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U. S. 507, 517 (1997), § 5 is an affirmative grant of power to Congress. "It is for Congress in the first instance to
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