Cite as: 538 U. S. 721 (2003)
Opinion of the Court
to enforce that Amendment's guarantees.1 Congress may not abrogate the States' sovereign immunity pursuant to its Article I power over commerce. Seminole Tribe, supra. Congress may, however, abrogate States' sovereign immunity through a valid exercise of its § 5 power, for "the Eleventh Amendment, and the principle of state sovereignty which it embodies, are necessarily limited by the enforcement provisions of § 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment." Fitzpatrick v. Bitzer, 427 U. S. 445, 456 (1976) (citation omitted). See also Garrett, supra, at 364; Kimel, supra, at 80.
Two provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment are relevant here: Section 5 grants Congress the power "to enforce" the substantive guarantees of § 1—among them, equal protection of the laws—by enacting "appropriate legislation." Congress may, in the exercise of its § 5 power, do more than simply proscribe conduct that we have held unconstitutional. " 'Congress' power "to enforce" the Amendment includes the authority both to remedy and to deter violation of rights guaranteed thereunder by prohibiting a somewhat broader swath of conduct, including that which is not itself forbidden by the Amendment's text.' " Garrett, supra, at 365 (quoting Kimel, supra, at 81); City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U. S. 507, 536 (1997); Katzenbach v. Morgan, 384 U. S. 641, 658 (1966). In other words, Congress may enact so-called prophylactic
1 Compare 29 U. S. C. § 2601(b)(1) ("It is the purpose of this Act . . . to balance the demands of the workplace with the needs of families, to promote the stability and economic security of families, and to promote national interests in preserving family integrity") with § 2601(b)(5) ("to promote the goal of equal employment opportunity for women and men, pursuant to [the Equal Protection C]lause") and § 2601(b)(4) ("to accomplish [the Act's other purposes] in a manner that, consistent with the Equal Protection Clause . . . , minimizes the potential for employment discrimination on the basis of sex"). See also S. Rep. No. 103-3, p. 16 (1993) (the FMLA "is based not only on the Commerce Clause, but also on the guarantees of equal protection and due process embodied in the 14th Amendment"); H. R. Rep. No. 103-8, pt. 1, p. 29 (1993) (same).
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