Board of Trustees of Univ. of Ala. v. Garrett, 531 U.S. 356, 5 (2001)

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360

BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF UNIV. OF ALA. v. GARRETT

Opinion of the Court

Chief Justice Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.

We decide here whether employees of the State of Alabama may recover money damages by reason of the State's failure to comply with the provisions of Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA or Act), 104 Stat. 330, 42 U. S. C. §§ 12111-12117.1 We hold that such suits are barred by the Eleventh Amendment.

The ADA prohibits certain employers, including the States, from "discriminat[ing] against a qualified individual

and Eve Hill; for the Southern Poverty Law Center by Pamela L. Sumners and Elizabeth J. Hubertz; and for Morton Horwitz et al. by Kenneth W. Brothers, Elizabeth B. McCallum, and Claudia Center. A. Stephen Hut, Jr., filed a statement by former President George H. W. Bush as amicus curiae.

1 Respondents' complaints in the United States District Court alleged violations of both Title I and Title II of the ADA, and petitioners' "Question Presented" can be read to apply to both sections. See Brief for Petitioners i; Brief for United States I. Though the briefs of the parties discuss both sections in their constitutional arguments, no party has briefed the question whether Title II of the ADA, dealing with the "services, programs, or activities of a public entity," 42 U. S. C. § 12132, is available for claims of employment discrimination when Title I of the ADA expressly deals with that subject. See, e. g., Russello v. United States, 464 U. S. 16, 23 (1983) ("[W]here Congress includes particular language in one section of a statute but omits it in another section of the same Act, it is generally presumed that Congress acts intentionally and purposely in the disparate inclusion or exclusion" (internal quotation marks omitted)). The Courts of Appeals are divided on this issue, compare Zimmerman v. Oregon Dept. of Justice, 170 F. 3d 1169 (CA9 1999), with Bledsoe v. Palm Beach Cty. Soil & Water Conservation Dist., 133 F. 3d 816 (CA11 1998). We are not disposed to decide the constitutional issue whether Title II, which has somewhat different remedial provisions from Title I, is appropriate legislation under § 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment when the parties have not favored us with briefing on the statutory question. To the extent the Court granted certiorari on the question whether respondents may sue their state employers for damages under Title II of the ADA, see this Court's Rule 24.1(a), that portion of the writ is dismissed as improvidently granted. See The Monrosa v. Carbon Black Export, Inc., 359 U. S. 180, 184 (1959).

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