Cite as: 517 U. S. 44 (1996)
Souter, J., dissenting
IV
The Court's holding that the States' Hans immunity may not be abrogated by Congress leads to the final question in this case, whether federal-question jurisdiction exists to order prospective relief enforcing IGRA against a state officer, respondent Chiles, who is said to be authorized to take the action required by the federal law. Just as with the issue about authority to order the State as such, this question is entirely jurisdictional, and we need not consider here whether petitioner Seminole Tribe would have a meritorious argument for relief, or how much practical relief the requested order (to bargain in good faith) would actually provide to the Tribe. Nor, of course, does the issue turn in any way on one's views about the scope of the Eleventh Amendment or Hans and its doctrine, for we ask whether the state officer is subject to jurisdiction only on the assumption that action directly against the State is barred. The answer to this question is an easy yes, the officer is subject to suit under the rule in Ex parte Young, 209 U. S. 123 (1908), and the case could, and should, readily be decided on this point alone.
A
In Ex parte Young, this Court held that a federal court has jurisdiction in a suit against a state officer to enjoin official actions violating federal law, even though the State itself may be immune. Under Young, "a federal court, consistent with the Eleventh Amendment, may enjoin state officials to conform their future conduct to the requirements of federal law." Quern v. Jordan, 440 U. S. 332, 337 (1979); see also Milliken v. Bradley, 433 U. S. 267, 289 (1977).
The fact, without more, that such suits may have a signifi-cant impact on state governments does not count under Young. Milliken, for example, was a suit, under the authority of Young, brought against Michigan's Governor, Attorney General, Board of Education, Superintendent of Public In-
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