430
Opinion of the Court
"be treated as an arm of the State," Mt. Healthy City Bd. of Ed. v. Doyle, 429 U. S. 274, 280 (1977).6
Of course, the question whether a money judgment against a state instrumentality or official would be enforceable against the State is of considerable importance to any evaluation of the relationship between the State and the entity or individual being sued. Hess v. Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corporation, 513 U. S. 30, 45-51 (1994); Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U. S. 651, 663 (1974); Ford Motor, 323 U. S., at 464. In Hess, we evaluated the relationship between an entity created by a bistate compact and the States that had joined to create that entity in order to determine whether that entity could properly be denominated as an "arm" of either of its founding States for the purposes of the Eleventh Amendment. In addition to considering the position of the bistate entity as a unique creature within the federal system, 513 U. S., at 39-42, and the nature of the claims at issue in the underlying proceeding, id., at 42, we focused particular attention on the fact that "both legally and practically" neither of the relevant States would have been obligated to pay a judgment obtained against the bistate entity, id., at 51-52.
Respondent seeks to detach the importance of a State's legal liability for judgments against a state agency from its
6 We relied in Mt. Healthy on our earlier decision that a California county is not an "arm of the State" and therefore may be considered a "citizen" of California for the purpose of determining the federal court's diversity jurisdiction over a state-law claim. Moor v. County of Alameda, 411 U. S. 693, 717-721 (1973). In Moor we made a "detailed examination of the relevant provisions of California law" defining counties, noting that the county "is liable for all judgments against it and is authorized to levy taxes to pay such judgments," that it is "empowered to issue general obligation bonds," and that it has other characteristics that provide "persuasive indicia of the independent status occupied by California counties relative to the State of California." Id., at 719-721.
Page: Index Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007