710
Syllabus
United States' judicial power and could not be heard in federal courts. Pp. 748-754.
3. A State's constitutional privilege to assert its sovereign immunity in its own courts does not confer upon the State a concomitant right to disregard the Constitution or valid federal law. States and their officers are bound by obligations imposed by the Constitution and federal statutes that comport with the constitutional design. Limits implicit in the constitutional principle of sovereign immunity strike the proper balance between the supremacy of federal law and the separate sovereignty of the States. The first limit is that sovereign immunity bars suits only in the absence of consent. Many States have enacted statutes consenting to suits and have consented to some suits pursuant to the plan of the Convention or to subsequent constitutional Amendments. The second important limit is that sovereign immunity bars suits against States but not against lesser entities, such as municipal corporations, or against a state officer for injunctive or declaratory relief or for money damages to be collected not from the state treasury but from the officer personally. Pp. 754-757.
4. Maine has not waived its immunity. It adheres to the general rule that a specific legislative enactment is required to waive sovereign immunity. Although petitioners contend that Maine discriminated against federal rights by claiming immunity from this suit, there is no evidence that it has manipulated its immunity in a systematic fashion to discriminate against federal causes of action. To the extent Maine has chosen to consent to certain classes of suits while maintaining its immunity from others, it has done no more than exercise a privilege of sovereignty. Pp. 757-758.
715 A. 2d 172, affirmed.
Kennedy, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Rehnquist, C. J., and O'Connor, Scalia, and Thomas, JJ., joined. Souter, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Stevens, Ginsburg, and Breyer, JJ., joined, post, p. 760.
Laurence Gold argued the cause for petitioners. With him on the briefs were Jonathan P. Hiatt, Timothy L. Belcher, and David L. Shapiro.
Solicitor General Waxman argued the cause for intervenor United States. With him on the briefs were Assistant Attorney General Hunger, Acting Assistant Attorney General Ogden, Deputy Solicitor General Kneedler, Irving L.
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