78
Opinion of the Court
see also post, at 108-109. We agree with the implication of that statement: In response to Employees, Congress clearly intended through "the newly amended § 216(b)" to abrogate the States' sovereign immunity. In light of our conclusion that Congress unequivocally expressed its intent to abrogate the States' Eleventh Amendment immunity, we now must determine whether Congress effectuated that abrogation pursuant to a valid exercise of constitutional authority.
IV
A
This is not the first time we have considered the constitutional validity of the 1974 extension of the ADEA to state and local governments. In EEOC v. Wyoming, 460 U. S. 226, 243 (1983), we held that the ADEA constitutes a valid exercise of Congress' power "[t]o regulate Commerce . . . among the several States," Art. I, § 8, cl. 3, and that the Act did not transgress any external restraints imposed on the commerce power by the Tenth Amendment. Because we found the ADEA valid under Congress' Commerce Clause power, we concluded that it was unnecessary to determine whether the Act also could be supported by Congress' power under § 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment. 460 U. S., at 243. But see id., at 259-263 (Burger, C. J., dissenting). Resolution of today's cases requires us to decide that question.
In Seminole Tribe, we held that Congress lacks power under Article I to abrogate the States' sovereign immunity. 517 U. S., at 72-73. "Even when the Constitution vests in Congress complete lawmaking authority over a particular area, the Eleventh Amendment prevents congressional authorization of suits by private parties against unconsenting States." Id., at 72. Last Term, in a series of three decisions, we reaffirmed that central holding of Seminole Tribe. See College Savings Bank, 527 U. S., at 672; Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Ed. Expense Bd. v. College Savings Bank,
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