Cite as: 533 U. S. 1 (2001)
Opinion of the Court
I
We have decided that a State may recover monetary damages from another State in an original action, without running afoul of the Eleventh Amendment.1 See, e. g., Texas v. New Mexico, 482 U. S. 124, 130 (1987) ("The Court has recognized the propriety of money judgments against a State in an original action, and specifically in a case involving a compact. In proper original actions, the Eleventh Amendment is no barrier, for by its terms, it applies only to suits by citizens against a State" (citations omitted)); see also Maryland v. Louisiana, 451 U. S. 725, 745, n. 21 (1981); South Dakota v. North Carolina, 192 U. S. 286, 317- 321 (1904). Colorado contends, however, that the Eleventh Amendment precludes any such recovery based on losses sustained by individual water users in Kansas.
It is firmly established, and undisputed in this litigation, that the text of the Eleventh Amendment would bar a direct action against Colorado by citizens of Kansas. Moreover, we have several times held that a State may not invoke our original jurisdiction when it is merely acting as an agent or trustee for one or more of its citizens. For example, in New Hampshire v. Louisiana, 108 U. S. 76 (1883), we refused to assume jurisdiction over an action to recover payment on defaulted bonds that had been formally assigned to the state plaintiffs but remained beneficially owned by private individuals. And, in North Dakota v. Minnesota, 263 U. S. 365 (1923), we held that, while the plaintiff State could obtain an injunction against the improper operation of Minnesota's drainage ditches, the Eleventh Amendment precluded an award of damages based on injuries to individual farmers, where the damages claim was financed by
1 That Amendment provides: "The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State."
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