Cite as: 510 U. S. 471 (1994)
Opinion of the Court
the validity of the damages award against FSLIC. 507 U. S. 983 (1993).2
II
Absent a waiver, sovereign immunity shields the Federal Government and its agencies from suit. Loeffler v. Frank, 486 U. S. 549, 554 (1988); Federal Housing Administration v. Burr, 309 U. S. 242, 244 (1940). Sovereign immunity is jurisdictional in nature. Indeed, the "terms of [the United States'] consent to be sued in any court define that court's jurisdiction to entertain the suit." United States v. Sherwood, 312 U. S. 584, 586 (1941). See also United States v. Mitchell, 463 U. S. 206, 212 (1983) ("It is axiomatic that the United States may not be sued without its consent and that the existence of consent is a prerequisite for jurisdiction"). Therefore, we must first decide whether FSLIC's immunity has been waived.
A
When Congress created FSLIC in 1934, it empowered the agency "[t]o sue and be sued, complain and defend, in any court of competent jurisdiction." 12 U. S. C. § 1725(c)(4) (repealed 1989).3 By permitting FSLIC to sue and be sued, Congress effected a "broad" waiver of FSLIC's immunity from suit. United States v. Nordic Village, Inc., 503 U. S. 30, 34 (1992). In 1946, Congress passed the FTCA, which waived the sovereign immunity of the United States for certain torts committed by federal employees. 28 U. S. C.
2 Meyer filed a cross-appeal challenging the jury's finding that Pattullo was protected by qualified immunity. The Ninth Circuit affirmed this finding. 944 F. 2d, at 575-577. We declined to review this aspect of the case. Meyer v. Pattullo, 507 U. S. 984 (1993).
3 The statute governing FDIC contains a nearly identical sue-and-be-sued clause. See 12 U. S. C. § 1819(a) Fourth (1988 ed., Supp. IV) (FDIC "shall have power . . . [t]o sue and be sued, and complain and defend, in any court of law or equity, State or Federal").
475
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