Cite as: 528 U. S. 62 (2000)
Opinion of the Court
crimination by the States. See Florida Prepaid, 527 U. S., at 640.
A review of the ADEA's legislative record as a whole, then, reveals that Congress had virtually no reason to believe that state and local governments were unconstitution-ally discriminating against their employees on the basis of age. Although that lack of support is not determinative of the § 5 inquiry, id., at 646; City of Boerne, supra, at 531-532, Congress' failure to uncover any significant pattern of unconstitutional discrimination here confirms that Congress had no reason to believe that broad prophylactic legislation was necessary in this field. In light of the indiscriminate scope of the Act's substantive requirements, and the lack of evidence of widespread and unconstitutional age discrimination by the States, we hold that the ADEA is not a valid exercise of Congress' power under § 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment. The ADEA's purported abrogation of the States' sovereign immunity is accordingly invalid.
D
Our decision today does not signal the end of the line for employees who find themselves subject to age discrimination at the hands of their state employers. We hold only that, in the ADEA, Congress did not validly abrogate the States' sovereign immunity to suits by private individuals. State employees are protected by state age discrimination statutes, and may recover money damages from their state employers, in almost every State of the Union.* Those ave*See Alaska Stat. Ann. § 18.80.010 et seq. (1998); Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 41-1401 et seq. (1999); Ark. Code Ann. §§ 21-3-201, 21-3-203 (1996); Cal. Govt. Code Ann. § 12900 et seq. (West 1992 and Supp. 1999); Colo. Rev. Stat. § 24-34-301 et seq. (1998); Conn. Gen. Stat. § 46a-51 et seq. (1999); Del. Code Ann., Tit. 19, § 710 et seq. (Supp. 1998); Fla. Stat. §§ 112.044, 760.01 et seq. (1997 and 1998 Supp.); Ga. Code Ann. § 45-19-21 et seq. (1990 and Supp. 1996); Haw. Rev. Stat. § 378-1 et seq. (1993 and Cum. Supp. 1998); Idaho Code § 67-5901 et seq. (1995 and Supp. 1999); Ill. Comp. Stat., ch. 775, § 5/1-101 et seq. (1998); Ind. Code § 22-9-2-1 et seq. (1993); Iowa
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