Aguilar v. Texas Department of Criminal JusticeAguilar v. Texas Department of Criminal Justice
can be fired for good cause, bad cause, or no cause at all, he or she cannot be fired for an illicit cause. Any seeming inconsistency in the determination that one who can be fired without cause nevertheless cannot be fired for an unlawful cause evaporates under the foregoing analysis.
None can contest that discriminating against an employee on the basis of race is illegal and against public policy. In amending § 1981, Congress was advancing such public policy concerns by providing a vehicle for every employee to remedy racial discrimination in the workplace. Congress could not have meant to exclude at-will workers from the reach of § 1981, as to do so would be to allow use of the ubiquitous at-will doctrine ‐as leverage to incite violations of our state and federal laws.‑32
We therefore conclude that the district court erred in granting summary judgment to Planned Parenthood solely on the basis that Fadeyi had no contract on which her § 1981 claims could rest. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the district court and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
32. Hauck, 687 S.W.2d at 735 (Kilgarlin, J., concurring).
PATRICK E. HIGGINBOTHAM, Circuit Judge:
Aguilar and several other Texas state prisoners filed a
I.
First, Aguilar contends that the magistrate judge erred by denying him leave to amend his complaint. Prior to any defendant filing an answer to the original complaint, Aguilar filed a motion to amend his complaint. The magistrate judge denied the motion. The magistrate noted that Aguilar‘s co-plaintiffs, who were not mentioned in the proposed amended complaint, had not signed the proposed amended complaint and that
Aguilar maintains that he did not attempt to have the other plaintiffs join the amendment because he was under the impression that the district court had entered an order stating that it would not accept any filings from the other plaintiffs. In fact, the district court had entered such an order: the court would not accept any of the co-plaintiffs’ filings, other than a motion for extension of time, until they complied with the court‘s requirement that they provide the appropriate in forma pauperis material.
A court‘s denial of leave to amend a complaint is usually reviewed for abuse of discretion. See Ashe v. Corley, 992 F.2d 540, 542 (5th Cir.1993). However, “[a] party may amend the party‘s pleading once as a matter of course at any time before a responsive pleading is served....”
No cases in this circuit have addressed directly whether a court has any discretion to deny a party‘s right to amend the complaint before the filing of a responsive pleading because signatures of co-plaintiffs were not present. While under normal circumstances a plaintiff would have an absolute right to amend his complaint before the filing of a responsive pleading, these circumstances are not normal. In this case, Aguilar‘s co-plain-
II.
The district court did not err in finding that the Eleventh Amendment bars Aguilar‘s claims. The Eleventh Amendment bars claims against a state brought pursuant to
The Eleventh Amendment also bars a suit against a state official when “the state is a real, substantial party in interest.” Pennhurst State Sch. & Hosp. v. Halderman, 465 U.S. 89, 101-02, 104 S.Ct. 900, 79 L.Ed.2d 67 (1984) (citations omitted). Thus,
[t]he general rule is that relief sought nominally against an officer is in fact against the sovereign if the decree would operate against the latter. And, as when the State itself is named as the defendant, a suit against state officials that is in fact a suit against a State is barred regardless of whether it seeks damages or injunctive relief.
Id. (citations omitted).
In Ex Parte Young, 209 U.S. 123, 28 S.Ct. 441, 52 L.Ed. 714 (1908), the Supreme Court carved out an exception to Eleventh Amendment immunity. The Court held that enforcement of an unconstitutional law is not an official act because a state can not confer authority on its officers to violate the Constitution or federal law. See American Bank & Trust Co. of Opelousas v. Dent, 982 F.2d 917, 920-21 (5th Cir.1993). To meet the Ex Parte Young exception, a plaintiff‘s suit alleging a violation of federal law must be brought against individual persons in their official capacities as agents of the state, and the relief sought must be declaratory or injunctive in nature and prospective in effect. See Saltz v. Tennessee Dep‘t of Employment Sec., 976 F.2d 966, 968 (5th Cir.1992).
Aguilar argues on appeal that Texas is not the real substantial party in interest in his suit; rather, his claims for injunctive relief are against the state officials who implemented the alleged unconstitutional Texas Department of Criminal Justice—Institutional Division (“TDCJ-ID“) policies. Aguilar‘s original petition demonstrates, however, that he sued TDCJ-ID itself for injunctive relief, not any state official in his or her individual capacity as an agent of the state. And, as an instrumentality of the state, TDCJ-ID is immune from Aguilar‘s suit on Eleventh Amendment grounds. See Farias, 925 F.2d at 875 n. 9.
III.
For the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM the order of dismissal.