682
Opinion of the Court
the buying or selling of securities in interstate commerce would not be entitled to a jury in any federal criminal prosecution of such fraud. Would persons engaging in securities fraud after the adoption of such an amendment be deemed to have "constructively waived" their constitutionally protected rights to trial by jury in criminal cases? After all, the trading of securities is not so vital an activity that any one person's decision to trade cannot be regarded as a voluntary choice. The answer, of course, is no. The classic description of an effective waiver of a constitutional right is the "intentional relinquishment or abandonment of a known right or privilege." Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U. S. 458, 464 (1938). "[C]ourts indulge every reasonable presumption against waiver " of fundamental constitutional rights. Aetna Ins. Co. v. Kennedy ex rel. Bogash, 301 U. S. 389, 393 (1937). See also Ohio Bell Telephone Co. v. Public Util. Comm'n of Ohio, 301 U. S. 292, 307 (1937) (we "do not presume acquiescence in the loss of fundamental rights"). State sovereign immunity, no less than the right to trial by jury in criminal cases, is constitutionally protected. Great Northern, supra, at 51; Pennhurst, 465 U. S., at 98. And in the context of federal sovereign immunity—obviously the closest analogy to the present case—it is well established that waivers are not implied. See, e. g., United States v. King, 395 U. S. 1, 4 (1969) (describing the "settled propositio[n]" that the United States' waiver of sovereign immunity "cannot be implied but must be unequivocally expressed"). We see no reason why the rule should be different with respect to state sovereign immunity.
Given how anomalous it is to speak of the "constructive waiver" of a constitutionally protected privilege, it is not surprising that the very cornerstone of the Parden opinion was the notion that state sovereign immunity is not constitutionally grounded. Parden's discussion of waiver began with the observation:
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