Cite as: 519 U. S. 425 (1997)
Opinion of the Court
II
The Eleventh Amendment provides:
"The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State."
It has long been settled that the reference to actions "against one of the United States" encompasses not only actions in which a State is actually named as the defendant, but also certain actions against state agents and state instrumentalities. Poindexter v. Greenhow, 114 U. S. 270, 287 (1885); In re Ayers, 123 U. S. 443, 487 (1887); Smith v. Reeves, 178 U. S. 436, 438-439 (1900); Ford Motor Co. v. Department of Treasury of Ind., 323 U. S. 459 (1945). Thus, "when the action is in essence one for the recovery of money from the state, the state is the real, substantial party in interest and is entitled to invoke its sovereign immunity from suit even though individual officials are nominal defendants." Id., at 464.
When deciding whether a state instrumentality may invoke the State's immunity, our cases have inquired into the relationship between the State and the entity in question. In making this inquiry, we have sometimes examined "the essential nature and effect of the proceeding," ibid.; see also Kennecott Copper Corp. v. State Tax Comm'n, 327 U. S. 573, 576 (1946), and sometimes focused on the "nature of the entity created by state law" 5 to determine whether it should
5 Ultimately, of course, the question whether a particular state agency has the same kind of independent status as a county or is instead an arm of the State, and therefore "one of the United States" within the meaning of the Eleventh Amendment, is a question of federal law. But that federal question can be answered only after considering the provisions of state law that define the agency's character.
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