Cite as: 535 U. S. 743 (2002)
Breyer, J., dissenting
the very history to which the majority turned in Alden here argues against the Court's basic analogy—between a federal administrative proceeding triggered by a private citizen and a private citizen's lawsuit against a State.
In Alden the Court said that feudal law had created an 18th-century legal norm to the effect that " 'no lord could be sued by a vassal in his own court, but each petty lord was subject to suit in the courts of a higher lord.' " 527 U. S., at 741. It added that the Framers' silence about the matter had woven that feudal "norm" into the "constitutional design," i. e., had made it part of our "system of federalism" unchanged by the " 'plan of the convention.' " Id., at 714- 717, 730, 740-743. And that norm, said the Alden Court, by analogy forbids a citizen ("vassal") to sue a State ("lord") in the "lord's" own courts. Here that same norm argues against immunity, for the forum at issue is federal—belonging by analogy to the "higher lord." And total 18th-century silence about state immunity in Article I proceedings would argue against, not in favor of, immunity.
In any event, the 18th century was not totally silent. The Framers enunciated in the "plan of the convention" the principle that the Federal Government may sue a State without its consent. See, e. g., West Virginia v. United States, 479 U. S. 305, 311 (1987). They also described in the First Amendment the right of a citizen to petition the Federal Government for a redress of grievances. See also United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U. S. 542, 552-553 (1876); cf. generally Mark, The Vestigial Constitution: The History and Significance of the Right to Petition, 66 Ford. L. Rev. 2153, 2227 (1998). The first principle applies here because only the Federal Government, not the private party, can—in light of this Court's recent sovereign immunity jurisprudence, see Seminole Tribe of Fla. v. Florida, 517 U. S. 44 (1996)—bring the ultimate court action necessary legally to force a State to comply with the relevant federal law. See id., at 71, n. 14. The second principle applies here be-
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