PENNHURST STATE SCHOOL AND HOSPITAL ET AL. v. HALDERMAN ET AL.
No. 81-2101
Supreme Court of the United States
January 23, 1984
Reargued October 3, 1983
465 U.S. 89
H. Bartow Farr III and Allen C. Warshaw reargued the cause for petitioners. With them on the briefs were Thomas M. Kittredge, Joel I. Klein, LeRoy S. Zimmerman, Robert B. Hoffman, Debra K. Wallet, Alan J. Davis, and Mark A. Aronchick.
David Ferleger reargued the cause and filed a brief for respondents Halderman et al. Thomas K. Gilhool reargued the cause for respondents Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Citizens et al. With him on the brief were Frank J. Laski and Michael Churchill. Solicitor General Lee, Assistant Attorney General Reynolds, Deputy Assistant Attorneys General Cooper and Wilkinson, Brian K. Landsberg, and Frank Allen filed a brief for the United States.*
JUSTICE POWELL delivered the opinion of the Court.
This case presents the question whether a federal court may award injunctive relief against state officials on the basis of state law.
*A brief of amici curiae was filed for the State of Alabama et al. by Francis X. Bellotti, Attorney General of Massachusetts, Thomas R. Kiley, First Assistant Attorney General, and Carl Valvo, William L. Pardee, and Judith S. Yogman, Assistant Attorneys General, joined by the Attorneys General for their respective jurisdictions as follows: Charles A. Graddick of Alabama, Robert K. Corbin of Arizona (by Anthony Ching, Solicitor General), J. D. MacFarlane of Colorado, Carl R. Ajello of Connecticut, Richard S. Gebelein of Delaware, Michael J. Bowers of Georgia, Tyrone C. Fahner of Illinois, Linley E. Pearson of Indiana, Thomas J. Miller of Iowa, Steven L. Beshear of Kentucky, Frank J. Kelley of Michigan, John D. Ashcroft of Missouri, Paul L. Douglas of Nebraska, Richard H. Bryan of Nevada, Gregory H. Smith of New Hampshire, Irwin I. Kimmelman of New Jersey, Rufus L. Edmisten of North Carolina, Robert O. Wefald of North Dakota, Hector Reichard of Puerto Rico, David L. Wilkinson of Utah, Bronson C. La Follette of Wisconsin, Steven Freudenthal of Wyoming, and Aviata F. Fa‘Aleveo of American Samoa.
This litigation, here for the second time, concerns the conditions of care at petitioner Pennhurst State School and Hospital, a Pennsylvania institution for the care of the mentally retarded. See Pennhurst State School and Hospital v. Halderman, 451 U. S. 1 (1981). Although the litigation‘s history is set forth in detail in our prior opinion, see id., at 5-10, it is necessary for purposes of this decision to review that history.
This suit originally was brought in 1974 by respondent Terri Lee Halderman, a resident of Pennhurst, in the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Ultimately, plaintiffs included a class consisting of all persons who were or might become residents of Pennhurst; the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Citizens (PARC); and the United States. Defendants were Pennhurst and various Pennhurst officials; the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare and several of its officials; and various county commissioners, county mental retardation administrators, and other officials of five Pennsylvania counties surrounding Pennhurst. Respondents’ amended complaint charged that conditions at Pennhurst violated the class members’ rights under the
In 1977, following a lengthy trial, the District Court rendered its decision. Halderman v. Pennhurst State School and Hospital, 446 F. Supp. 1295. As noted in our prior opinion, the court‘s findings were undisputed: “Conditions at Pennhurst are not only dangerous, with the residents often physically abused or drugged by staff members, but also in-
The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed most of the District Court‘s judgment. Halderman v. Pennhurst State School and Hospital, 612 F. 2d 84 (1979) (en banc). It agreed that respondents had a right to habilitation in the least restrictive environment, but it grounded this right solely on the “bill of rights” provision in the
On the question of remedy, the Court of Appeals affirmed except as to the District Court‘s order that Pennhurst be closed. The court observed that some patients would be unable to adjust to life outside an institution, and it determined that none of the legal provisions relied on by respondents precluded institutionalization. Id., at 114-115. It therefore remanded for “individual determinations by the [District Court], or by the Special Master, as to the appropriateness of an improved Pennhurst for each such patient,” guided by “a presumption in favor of placing individuals in [community living arrangements].” Ibid.2
On remand the District Court established detailed procedures for determining the proper residential placement for each patient. A team consisting of the patient, his parents or guardian, and his case manager must establish an individual habilitation plan providing for habilitation of the patient in a designated community living arrangement. The plan is subject to review by the Special Master. A second master, called the Hearing Master, is available to conduct hearings, upon request by the resident, his parents, or his advocate, on the question whether the services of Pennhurst would be more beneficial to the resident than the community living arrangement provided in the resident‘s plan. The Hearing Master then determines where the patient should reside,
This Court reversed the judgment of the Court of Appeals, finding that
On remand the Court of Appeals affirmed its prior judgment in its entirety. 673 F. 2d 647 (1982) (en banc). It determined that in a recent decision the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania had “spoken definitively” in holding that the
We granted certiorari, 457 U. S. 1131 (1982), and now reverse and remand.
II
Petitioners raise three challenges to the judgment of the Court of Appeals: (i) the
A
“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.”
“That a State may not be sued without its consent is a fundamental rule of jurisprudence having so important a bearing upon the construction of the Constitution of the United States that it has become established by repeated decisions of this court that the entire judicial power granted by the Constitution does not embrace authority to entertain a suit brought by private parties against a State without consent given: not one brought by citizens of another State, or by citizens or subjects of a foreign State, because of the Eleventh Amendment; and not even one brought by its own citizens, because of the fundamental rule of which the Amendment is but
an exemplification.” Ex parte State of New York, 256 U. S. 490, 497 (1921) (emphasis added).8
A sovereign‘s immunity may be waived, and the Court consistently has held that a State may consent to suit against it in federal court. See, e. g., Clark v. Barnard, 108 U. S. 436, 447 (1883). We have insisted, however, that the State‘s consent be unequivocally expressed. See, e. g., Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U. S. 651, 673 (1974). Similarly, although Congress has power with respect to the rights protected by the
B
This Court‘s decisions thus establish that “an unconsenting State is immune from suits brought in federal courts by her own citizens as well as by citizens of another state.” Employees, supra, at 280. There may be a question, however, whether a particular suit in fact is a suit against a State. It is clear, of course, that in the absence of consent a suit in which the State or one of its agencies or departments is named as the defendant is proscribed by the
When the suit is brought only against state officials, a question arises as to whether that suit is a suit against the State itself. Although prior decisions of this Court have not been entirely consistent on this issue, certain principles are well established. 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. See Cory v. White, 457 U. S. 85, 91 (1982).
The Court has recognized an important exception to this general rule: a suit challenging the constitutionality of a state official‘s action is not one against the State. This was the holding in Ex parte Young, 209 U. S. 123 (1908), in which a federal court enjoined the Attorney General of the State of Minnesota from bringing suit to enforce a state statute that allegedly violated the
While the rule permitting suits alleging conduct contrary to “the supreme authority of the United States” has survived, the theory of Young has not been provided an expansive interpretation. Thus, in Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U. S. 651 (1974), the Court emphasized that the
III
With these principles in mind, we now turn to the question whether the claim that petitioners violated state law in carrying out their official duties at Pennhurst is one against the State and therefore barred by the
A
We first address the contention that respondents’ state-law claim is not barred by the
As discussed above, the injunction in Young was justified, notwithstanding the obvious impact on the State itself, on the view that sovereign immunity does not apply because an official who acts unconstitutionally is “stripped of his official or representative character,” Young, 209 U. S., at 160. This
The Court also has recognized, however, that the need to promote the supremacy of federal law must be accommodated to the constitutional immunity of the States. This is the significance of Edelman v. Jordan, supra. We recognized that the prospective relief authorized by Young “has permitted the Civil War Amendments to the Constitution to serve as a sword, rather than merely a shield, for those whom they were designed to protect.” 415 U. S., at 664. But we declined to extend the fiction of Young to encompass retroactive relief, for to do so would effectively eliminate the constitutional immunity of the States. Accordingly, we concluded that although the difference between permissible and impermissible relief “will not in many instances be that between day and night,” 415 U. S., at 667, an award of retroactive relief necessarily “fall[s] afoul of the Eleventh Amend-
This need to reconcile competing interests is wholly absent, however, when a plaintiff alleges that a state official has violated state law. In such a case the entire basis for the doctrine of Young and Edelman disappears. A federal court‘s grant of relief against state officials on the basis of state law, whether prospective or retroactive, does not vindicate the supreme authority of federal law. On the contrary, it is difficult to think of a greater intrusion on state sovereignty than when a federal court instructs state officials on how to conform their conduct to state law. Such a result conflicts directly with the principles of federalism that underlie the
B
The contrary view of JUSTICE STEVENS’ dissent rests on fiction, is wrong on the law, and, most important, would emasculate the
The theory is out of touch with reality. The dissent does not dispute that the general criterion for determining when a suit is in fact against the sovereign is the effect of the relief sought. See supra, at 101; post, at 146, n. 29. According to the dissent, the relief sought and ordered here—which in effect was that a major state institution be closed and smaller state institutions be created and expansively funded—did not operate against the State. This view would make the law a pretense. No other court or judge in the 10-year history of this litigation has advanced this theory. And the dissent‘s underlying view that the named defendants here were acting beyond and contrary to their authority cannot be reconciled with reality—or with the record. The District Court in this case held that the individual defendants “acted in the utmost good faith . . . within the sphere of their official responsibilities,” and therefore were entitled to immunity from damages. 446 F. Supp., at 1324 (emphasis added). The named defendants had nothing to gain personally from their conduct; they were not found to have acted willfully or even negligently. See ibid. The court expressly noted that the individual defendants “apparently took every means available to them to reduce the incidents of abuse and injury, but were
The dissent bases its view on numerous cases from the turn of the century and earlier. These cases do not provide the support the dissent claims to find. Many are simply miscited. For example, with perhaps one exception,18 none of its Eleventh Amendment cases can be said to hold that injunctive relief could be ordered against state officials for failing to carry out their duties under state statutes.19 And
Thus, while there is language in the early cases that advances the authority-stripping theory advocated by the dissent, this theory had never been pressed as far as JUSTICE STEVENS would do in this case. And when the expansive ap
The dissent in Larson made many of the arguments advanced by JUSTICE STEVENS’ dissent today, and asserted that many of the same cases were being overruled or ignored.
The reason is obvious. Under the dissent‘s view of the ultra vires doctrine, the Eleventh Amendment would have force only in the rare case in which a plaintiff foolishly attempts to sue the State in its own name, or where he cannot produce some state statute that has been violated to his asserted injury. Thus, the ultra vires doctrine, a narrow and questionable exception, would swallow the general rule that a suit is against the State if the relief will run against it. That result gives the dissent no pause presumably because of its view that the Eleventh Amendment and sovereign immunity “‘undoubtedly ru[n] counter to modern democratic notions of the moral responsibility of the State.‘” Post, at 164, n. 48 (quoting Great Northern Life Insurance Co. v. Read, 322 U. S. 47, 59 (1944) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting)). This argument has not been adopted by this Court. See Great Northern Life Insurance Co. v. Read, supra, at 51 (“Efforts to force, through suits against officials, performance of promises by a state collide directly with the necessity that a sovereign must be free from judicial compulsion in the carrying out of its policies within the limits of the Constitution“); Larson, 337 U. S., at 704 (“The Government, as representative of the community as a whole, cannot be stopped in its tracks . . .“). Moreover, the argument substantially misses the point with respect to Eleventh Amendment sovereign immunity. As JUSTICE MARSHALL has observed, the Eleventh Amendment‘s restriction on the federal judicial power is based in large part on “the problems of federalism inherent in making
C
The reasoning of our recent decisions on sovereign immunity thus leads to the conclusion that a federal suit against state officials on the basis of state law contravenes the Eleventh Amendment when—as here—the relief sought and ordered has an impact directly on the State itself. In reaching a contrary conclusion, the Court of Appeals relied principally on a separate line of cases dealing with pendent jurisdiction. The crucial point for the Court of Appeals was that this Court has granted relief against state officials on the basis of a pendent state-law claim. See 673 F. 2d, at 657-658. We therefore must consider the relationship between pendent jurisdiction and the Eleventh Amendment.
This Court long has held generally that when a federal court obtains jurisdiction over a federal claim, it may adjudicate other related claims over which the court otherwise would not have jurisdiction. See, e. g., Mine Workers v. Gibbs, 383 U. S. 715, 726 (1966); Osborn v. Bank of United States, 9 Wheat. 738, 819-823 (1824). The Court also has held that a federal court may resolve a case solely on the basis of a pendent state-law claim, see Siler, 213 U. S., at 192-193, and that in fact the court usually should do so in order to avoid federal constitutional questions, see id., at 193; Ashwander v. TVA, 297 U. S. 288, 347 (1936) (Brandeis, J., concurring) (“[I]f a case can be decided on either of two grounds, one involving a constitutional question, the other a question of statutory construction or general law, the Court will decide only the latter“). But pendent jurisdiction is a judge-made doctrine inferred from the general language of
As the Court of Appeals noted, in Siler and subsequent cases concerning pendent jurisdiction, relief was granted against state officials on the basis of state-law claims that were pendent to federal constitutional claims. In none of these cases, however, did the Court so much as mention the Eleventh Amendment in connection with the state-law claim. Rather, the Court appears to have assumed that once jurisdiction was established over the federal-law claim, the doctrine of pendent jurisdiction would establish power to hear the state-law claims as well. The Court has not addressed whether that doctrine has a different scope when applied to suits against the State. This is illustrated by Greene v. Louisville & Interurban R. Co., 244 U. S. 499 (1917), in which the plaintiff railroads sued state officials, alleging that certain tax assessments were excessive under the
As noted, the implicit view of these cases seems to have been that once jurisdiction is established on the basis of a federal question, no further Eleventh Amendment inquiry is necessary with respect to other claims raised in the case. This is an erroneous view and contrary to the principles established in our Eleventh Amendment decisions. “The Eleventh Amendment is an explicit limitation of the judicial power of the United States.” Missouri v. Fiske, 290 U. S. 18, 25 (1933). It deprives a federal court of power to decide certain claims against States that otherwise would be within the
This constitutional bar applies to pendent claims as well. As noted above, pendent jurisdiction is a judge-made doctrine of expediency and efficiency derived from the general
In sum, contrary to the view implicit in decisions such as Greene v. Louisville & Interurban R. Co., 244 U. S. 499 (1917), neither pendent jurisdiction nor any other basis of jurisdiction may override the Eleventh Amendment.31 A federal court must examine each claim in a case to see if the court‘s jurisdiction over that claim is barred by the Eleventh Amendment. We concluded above that a claim that state officials violated state law in carrying out their official responsibilities is a claim against the State that is protected by the Eleventh Amendment. See supra, at 106. We now hold that this principle applies as well to state-law claims brought into federal court under pendent jurisdiction.
D
Respondents urge that application of the Eleventh Amendment to pendent state-law claims will have a disruptive effect on litigation against state officials. They argue that the “considerations of judicial economy, convenience, and fairness to litigants” that underlie pendent jurisdiction, see Gibbs, supra, at 726, counsel against a result that may cause litigants to split causes of action between state and federal courts. They also contend that the policy of avoiding unnecessary constitutional decisions will be contravened if plaintiffs choose to forgo their state-law claims and sue only in federal court or, alternatively, that the policy of Ex parte Young
It may be that applying the Eleventh Amendment to pendent claims results in federal claims being brought in state court, or in bifurcation of claims. That is not uncommon in this area. Under Edelman v. Jordan, supra, a suit against state officials for retroactive monetary relief, whether based on federal or state law, must be brought in state court. Challenges to the validity of state tax systems under
IV
Respondents contend that, regardless of the applicability of the Eleventh Amendment to their state claims against petitioner state officials, the judgment may still be upheld against petitioner county officials. We are not persuaded. Even assuming that these officials are not immune from suit challenging their actions under the MH/MR Act,34 it is clear
V
The Court of Appeals upheld the judgment of the District Court solely on the basis of Pennsylvania‘s MH/MR Act. We hold that these federal courts lacked jurisdiction to enjoin petitioner state institutions and state officials on the basis of
It is so ordered.
JUSTICE BRENNAN, dissenting.
I fully agree with JUSTICE STEVENS’ dissent. Nevertheless, I write separately to explain that in view of my continued belief that the Eleventh Amendment “bars federal court suits against States only by citizens of other States,” Yeomans v. Kentucky, 423 U. S. 983, 984 (1975) (BRENNAN, J., dissenting), I would hold that petitioners are not entitled to invoke the protections of that Amendment in this federal-court suit by citizens of Pennsylvania. See Employees v. Missouri Dept. of Public Health and Welfare, 411 U. S. 279, 298 (1973) (BRENNAN, J., dissenting); Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U. S. 651, 687 (1974) (BRENNAN, J., dissenting). In my view, Hans v. Louisiana, 134 U. S. 1 (1890), upon which the Court today relies, ante, at 98, recognized that the Eleventh Amendment, by its terms, erects a limited constitutional barrier prohibiting suits against States by citizens of another State; the decision, however, “accords to nonconsenting States only a nonconstitutional immunity from suit by its own citizens.”
JUSTICE STEVENS, with whom JUSTICE BRENNAN, JUSTICE MARSHALL, and JUSTICE BLACKMUN join, dissenting.
This case has illuminated the character of an institution. The record demonstrates that the Pennhurst State School and Hospital has been operated in violation of state law. In 1977, after three years of litigation, the District Court entered detailed findings of fact that abundantly support that conclusion. In 1981, after four more years of litigation, this Court ordered the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to decide whether the law of Pennsylvania provides an independent and adequate ground which can support the District Court‘s remedial order. The Court of Appeals, sitting en banc, unanimously concluded that it did. This Court does not disagree with that conclusion. Rather, it reverses the Court of Appeals because it did precisely what this Court ordered it to do; the only error committed by the Court of Appeals was its faithful obedience to this Court‘s command.
This remarkable result is the product of an equally remarkable misapplication of the ancient doctrine of sovereign immunity. In a completely unprecedented holding, today the Court concludes that Pennsylvania‘s sovereign immunity prevents a federal court from enjoining the conduct that Pennsylvania itself has prohibited. No rational view of the sovereign immunity of the States supports this result. To the
I
The conduct of petitioners that the Court attributes to the State of Pennsylvania in order to find it protected by the Eleventh Amendment is described in detail in the District Court‘s findings. As noted in our prior opinion, Pennhurst State School and Hospital v. Halderman, 451 U. S. 1 (1981), and by the majority today, ante, at 92-93, those findings were undisputed: “Conditions at Pennhurst are not only dangerous, with the residents often physically abused or drugged by staff members, but also inadequate for the ‘habilitation’ of the retarded. Indeed, the court found that the physical, intellectual, and emotional skills of some residents have deteriorated at Pennhurst.” 451 U. S., at 7 (footnote omitted). The court concluded that Pennhurst was actually hazardous to its residents.1 Organized programs of training or educa
The District Court held that these conditions violated each resident‘s rights under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the
Petitioners sought review by this Court, asserting that the Court of Appeals had erred in its construction of both federal and state statutes. This Court granted certiorari and re-
On remand, 673 F. 2d 647 (CA3 1982) (en banc), the Court of Appeals, noting that this Court had remanded for reconsideration of the state-law issue, examined the impact of Schmidt.2 According to the Court of Appeals, which was unanimous on this point, the State Supreme Court had “spoken definitively” on the duties of the State under the
Petitioners’ position is utterly without support. The
II
The majority proceeds as if this Court has not had previous occasion to consider the
By 1908, it was firmly established that conduct of state officials under color of office that is tortious as a matter of state law is not protected by the
“[I]mmunity from suit is a high attribute of sovereignty—a prerogative of the State itself—which cannot be availed of by public agents when sued for their own torts. The
Eleventh Amendment was not intended to afford them freedom from liability in any case where, under color of their office, they have injured one of the State‘s citizens. To grant them such immunity would be to create a privileged class free from liability for wrongs inflicted or injuries threatened. . . .“. . . Besides, neither a State nor an individual can confer upon an agent authority to commit a tort so as to excuse the perpetrator. In such cases the law of agency has no application—the wrongdoer is treated as a principal and individually liable for the damages inflicted and subject to injunction against the commission of acts causing irreparable injury.” Id., at 642-643.9
“To answer it otherwise would be to assert, we think, that whatever an officer does, even in contravention of the laws of the State, is state action, identifies him with it and makes the redress sought against him a claim against the State and therefore prohibited by the
Eleventh Amendment . Surely an officer of a State may be delinquent without involving the State in delinquency, indeed, may injure the State by delinquency as well as some resident of the State, and be amenable to both.” Id., at 545.
Similarly, in Rolston v. Missouri Fund Commissioners, 120 U. S. 390 (1887), the Court rejected the argument that a suit to enjoin a state officer to comply with state law violated the
Significantly, this rule was expressly reaffirmed in a case decided by this Court in the same Term as Ex parte Young
Finally, in Greene v. Louisville & Interurban R. Co., 244 U. S. 499 (1917), and its companion cases, Louisville & Nashville R. Co. v. Greene, 244 U. S. 522 (1917); Illinois Central R. Co. v. Greene, 244 U. S. 555 (1917), the plaintiffs challenged the conduct of state officials under both federal and state law. The Court, citing, inter alia, Young and Clemson, held that the
None of these cases contain only “implicit” or sub silentio holdings; all of them explicitly consider and reject the claim that the
The Court also relies heavily on the fact that the District Court found petitioners immune from damages liability because they “‘acted in the utmost good faith . . . within the sphere of their official responsibilities,‘” ante, at 107 (emphasis in original) (quoting 446 F. Supp., at 1324). This confuses two distinct concepts. An official can act in good faith and therefore be immune from damages liability despite the
III
On its face, the
The Court has subsequently adhered to this interpretation of the
The doctrine of sovereign immunity developed in England, where it was thought that the King could not be sued. However, common-law courts, in applying the doctrine, traditionally distinguished between the King and his agents, on the theory that the King would never authorize unlawful conduct, and that therefore the unlawful acts of the King‘s officers ought not to be treated as acts of the sovereign. See 1 W. Blackstone, Commentaries *244. As early as the 15th century, Holdsworth writes, servants of the King were held liable for their unlawful acts. See 3 W. Holdsworth, A History of English Law 388 (1903). During the 17th century, this rule of law was used extensively to curb the King‘s authority. The King‘s officers
“could do wrong, and if they committed wrongs, whether in the course of their employment or not, they could be made legally liable. The command or instruction of the king could not protect them. If the king really had given such commands or instructions, he must have been deceived.” 6 id., at 101 (footnote omitted).
In one famous case, it was held that although process would not issue against the sovereign himself, it could issue against his officers. “[F]or the warrant of no man, not even of the King himself, can excuse the doing of an illegal act.” Sands v. Child, 3 Lev. 351, 352, 83 Eng. Rep. 725, 726 (К. В. 1693).21 By the 18th century, this rule of law was unques-
It was only natural, then, that this Court, in applying the principles of sovereign immunity, recognized the distinction between a suit against a State and one against its officer.23 For example, while the Court did inquire as to whether a suit was “in essence” against the sovereign, it soon became settled law that the
“The Act to be enforced is alleged to be unconstitutional, and if it be so, the use of the name of the State to enforce an unconstitutional act to the injury of complainants is a proceeding without the authority of and one which does not affect the State in its sovereign or governmental capacity. It is simply an illegal act upon the part of a state official in attempting by the use of the name of the State to enforce a legislative enactment which is void because unconstitutional. If the act which the state Attorney General seeks to enforce be a violation of the Federal Constitution, the officer in proceeding under such enactment comes into conflict with the superior authority of that Constitution, and he is in that case stripped of his official or representative character and is subjected in his person to the consequences of his individual conduct.” Id., at 159-160.26
The majority states that the holding of Ex parte Young is limited to cases in which relief is provided on the basis of federal law, and that it rests entirely on the need to protect the supremacy of federal law. That position overlooks the foundation of the rule of Young as well Pennoyer v. McConnaughy and Young‘s other predecessors.
The Young Court distinguished between the State and its Attorney General because the latter, in violating the Constitution, had engaged in conduct the sovereign could not authorize. The pivotal consideration was not that the conduct violated federal law, since nothing in the jurisprudence of the
The pivotal consideration in Young was that it was not conduct of the sovereign that was at issue.29 The rule that unlawful acts of an officer should not be attributed to the sovereign has deep roots in the history of sovereign immunity and makes Young reconcilable with the principles of sovereign immunity found in the
This rule plainly applies to conduct of state officers in violation of state law. Young states that the significance of the charge of unconstitutional conduct is that it renders the state official‘s conduct “simply an illegal act,” and hence the officer is not entitled to the sovereign‘s immunity. Since a state officer‘s conduct in violation of state law is certainly no less illegal than his violation of federal law, in either case the official, by committing an illegal act, is “stripped of his official or representative character.” For example, one of Young‘s predecessors held that a suit challenging an unconstitutional attempt by the Virginia Legislature to disavow a state contract was not barred by the
“inasmuch as, by the Constitution of the United States, which is also the supreme law of Virginia, that contract, when made, became thereby unchangeable, irrepealable by the State, the subsequent act of January 26, 1882, and all other like acts, which deny the obligation of that contract and forbid its performance, are not the acts of the State of Virginia. The true and real Commonwealth which contracted the obligation is incapable in law of doing anything in derogation of it. Whatever having that effect, if operative, has been attempted or done, is the work of its government acting without authority, in violation of its fundamental law, and must be looked upon, in all courts of justice, as if it were not and never had been. . . . The State of Virginia has done none of
these things with which this defence charges her. The defendant in error is not her officer, her agent, or her representative, in the matter complained of, for he has acted not only without her authority, but contrary to her express commands.” Poindexter v. Greenhow, 114 U. S., at 292-293 (emphasis supplied).31
It is clear that the Court in Poindexter attached no significance to the fact that Virginia had been accused of violating federal and not its own law.32 To the contrary, the Court treated the Federal Constitution as part of Virginia‘s law, and concluded that the challenged action was not that of Virginia precisely because it violated Virginia‘s law. The majority‘s position turns the Young doctrine on its head—sovereign immunity did not bar actions challenging unconstitutional conduct by state officers since the Federal Constitution was also to be considered part of the State‘s law—and since the State could not and would not authorize a violation of its own law, the officers’ conduct was considered individual
“If a suit against officers of a State to enjoin them from enforcing an unconstitutional statute . . . be not one against the State, it is impossible to see how a suit against the individuals to recover the possession of property belonging to the plaintiff and illegally withheld by the defendants can be deemed a suit against the State.”
These cases are based on the simple idea that an illegal act strips the official of his state-law shield, thereby depriving the official of the sovereign‘s immunity. The majority criticizes this approach as being “out of touch with reality” because it ignores the practical impact of an injunction on the
It follows that the basis for the Young rule is present when the officer sued has violated the law of the sovereign; in all such cases the conduct is of a type that would not be permitted by the sovereign and hence is not attributable to the sovereign under traditional sovereign immunity principles. In such a case, the sovereign‘s interest lies with those who seek to enforce its laws, rather than those who have violated them.
“[P]ublic officials may become tort-feasors by exceeding the limits of their authority. And where they unlawfully seize or hold a citizen‘s realty or chattels, recoverable by appropriate action at law or in equity . . . [t]he dominant interest of the sovereign is then on the side of the victim who may bring his possessory action to reclaim that which is wrongfully withheld.” Land v. Dollar, 330 U. S. 731, 738 (1947).34
The majority‘s position that the
Moreover, the majority‘s rule has nothing to do with the basic reason the
In light of the preceding, it should come as no surprise that there is absolutely no authority for the majority‘s position that the rule of Young is inapplicable to violations of state law. The only cases the majority cites, ante, at 105-106, for the proposition that Young is limited to the vindication of federal law do not consider the question whether Young permits injunctive relief on the basis of state law—in each of the cases the question was neither presented, briefed, argued, nor decided.37 It is curious, to say the least, that the majority disapproves of reliance on cases in which the issue we face today was decided sub silentio, see ante, at 119, yet it is willing to rely on cases in which the issue was not decided at all. In fact, not only is there no precedent for the majority‘s position, but, as I have demonstrated in Part II, supra, there is an avalanche of precedent squarely to the contrary.38
“There may be, of course, suits for specific relief against officers of the sovereign which are not suits against the sovereign. If the officer purports to act as an individual and not as an official, a suit directed against that action is not a suit against the sovereign. If the War Assets Administrator had completed a sale of his personal home, he presumably could be enjoined from later conveying it to a third person. On a similar theory, where the officer‘s powers are limited by statute, his actions beyond those limitations are considered individual and not sovereign actions. The officer is not doing
the business which the sovereign has empowered him to do or he is doing it in a way which the sovereign has forbidden. His actions are ultra vires his authority and therefore may be made the object of specific relief. It is important to note that in such cases the relief can be granted, without impleading the sovereign, only because of the officer‘s lack of delegated power. A claim of error in the exercise of that power is therefore not sufficient. And, since the jurisdiction of the court to hear the case may depend, as we have recently recognized, upon the decision which it ultimately reaches on the merits, it is necessary that the plaintiff set out in his complaint the statutory limitation on which he relies.” Id., at 689-690 (emphasis supplied).
Larson thus clearly indicates that the immunity determination depends upon the merits of the plaintiff‘s claim. The same approach is employed by Young—the plaintiff can overcome the state official‘s immunity only by succeeding on the merits of its claim of unconstitutional conduct.
Following the two-track analysis of Larson, the cases considering the question whether the state official is entitled to the sovereign‘s immunity can be grouped into two categories. In cases like Larson, Malone v. Bowdoin, 369 U. S. 643 (1962), and Florida Dept. of State v. Treasure Salvors, Inc., 458 U. S. 670 (1982), which usually involve the State functioning in its proprietary capacity, the ultra vires issue can be resolved solely by reference to the law of agency. Since there is no specific limitation on the powers of the officers other than the general limitations on their authority, the only question that need be asked is whether they have acted completely beyond their authority. But when the State has placed specific limitations on the manner in which state officials may perform their duties, as it often does in regulatory or other administrative contexts such as were considered in Scully v. Bird, 209 U. S. 481 (1908), and Johnson v. Lankford, 245 U. S. 541 (1918), the ultra vires inquiry also involves the question whether the officials acted in a way that state law forbids. No sovereign would authorize its officials to violate its own law, and if the official does so, then Larson indicates that his conduct is ultra vires and not protected by sovereign immunity.
Larson confirms that the Court‘s disposition of this case in 1981—ordering the Court of Appeals to consider respondents’ state-law claims—was fully harmonious with established sovereign immunity principles. The jurisdiction of the federal court was established by a federal claim;39 the Court of Appeals therefore had jurisdiction to resolve the case and to grant injunctive relief on either federal or state grounds. Respondents pleaded a specific statutory limitation on the way in which petitioners were entitled to run Pennhurst. The District Court and the Court of Appeals have both found that petitioners operated Pennhurst in a way that the sovereign has forbidden. Specifically, both courts concluded that petitioners placed residents in Pennhurst without any consideration at all of the limitations on institutional confinement that are found in state law, and that they failed to create community living programs that are mandated by state law. In short, there can be no dispute that petitioners ran Pennhurst in a way that the sovereign had
In sum, a century and a half of this Court‘s
IV
The majority‘s decision in this case is especially unwise in that it overrules a long line of cases in order to reach a result that is at odds with the usual practices of this Court. In one of the most respected opinions ever written by a Member of this Court, Justice Brandeis wrote:
“The Court [has] developed, for its own governance in the cases confessedly within its jurisdiction, a series of rules under which it has avoided passing upon a large part of all the constitutional questions pressed upon it for decision. They are:
“. . . The Court will not pass upon a constitutional question although properly presented by the record, if there is also present some other ground upon which the case may be disposed of. This rule has found most varied application. Thus, if a case can be decided on either of two grounds, one involving a constitutional question, the other a question of statutory construction or general law, the Court will decide only the latter. Siler v. Louisville & Nashville R. Co., 213 U. S. 175, 191.” Ashwander v. TVA, 297 U. S. 288, 346-347 (1936) (concurring opinion).
The Siler case, cited with approval by Justice Brandeis in Ashwander, employed a remarkably similar approach to that used by the Court of Appeals in this case. A privately owned railroad corporation brought suit against the members of the railroad commission of Kentucky to enjoin the enforcement of a rate schedule promulgated by the commission. The Federal Circuit Court found that the schedule violated the plaintiff‘s federal constitutional rights and granted re-
“Where a case in this court can be decided without reference to questions arising under the Federal Constitution, that course is usually pursued and is not departed from without important reasons. In this case we think it much better to decide it with regard to the question of a local nature, involving the construction of the state statute and the authority therein given to the commission to make the order in question, rather than to unnecessarily decide the various constitutional questions appearing in the record.” Siler v. Louisville & Nashville R. Co., 213 U. S. 175, 193 (1909).43
The Siler principle has been applied on numerous occasions; when a suit against state officials has presented both federal constitutional questions and issues of state law, the Court has upheld injunctive relief on state-law grounds. See, e. g., Lee v. Bickell, 292 U. S. 415, 425 (1934); Glenn v. Field Packing Co., 290 U. S. 177, 178 (1933); Davis v. Wallace, 257 U. S. 478, 482-485 (1922); Louisville & Nashville R. Co. v. Greene, 244 U. S., at 527; Greene v. Louisville & Interurban R. Co., 244 U. S., at 508, 512-514.44
“Numerous decisions of this Court have stated the general proposition endorsed in Siler—that a federal court properly vested with jurisdiction may pass on the state or local law question without deciding the federal constitutional issues—and have then proceeded to dis-
pose of the case solely on the nonfederal ground. See, e. g., Hillsborough v. Cromwell, 326 U. S. 620, 629-630 (1946); Waggoner Estate v. Wichita County, 273 U. S. 113, 116-119 (1927); Chicago G. W. R. Co. v. Kendall, 266 U. S. 94 (1924); United Gas Co. v. Railroad Comm‘n, 278 U. S. 300, 308 (1929); Risty v. Chicago, R. I. & P. R. Co., 270 U. S. 378, 387 (1926). These and other cases illustrate in practice the wisdom of the federal policy of avoiding constitutional adjudication where not absolutely essential to disposition of a case.” Id., at 547, n. 12.
In fact, in this very case we applied the Siler rule by remanding the case to the Court of Appeals with explicit instructions to consider whether respondents were entitled to relief under state law.
Not only does the Siler rule have an impressive historical pedigree, but it is also strongly supported by the interest in avoiding duplicative litigation and the unnecessary decision of federal constitutional questions.
“The policy‘s ultimate foundations . . . lie in all that goes to make up the unique place and character, in our scheme, of judicial review of governmental action for constitutionality. They are found in the delicacy of that function, particularly in view of possible consequences for others stemming also from constitutional roots; the comparative finality of those consequences; the consideration due to the judgment of other repositories of constitutional power concerning the scope of their authority; the necessity, if government is to function constitutionally, for each to keep within its power, including the courts; the inherent limitations of the judicial process, arising especially from its largely negative character and limited resources of enforcement; withal in the paramount importance of constitutional adjudication in our
system.” Rescue Army v. Municipal Court, 331 U. S. 549, 571 (1947).45
In addition, application of the Siler rule enhances the decisionmaking autonomy of the States. Siler directs the federal court to turn first to state law, which the State is free to modify or repeal.46 By leaving the policy determinations underlying injunctive relief in the hands of the State, the Court of Appeals’ approach gives appropriate deference to established state policies.
In contrast, the rule the majority creates today serves none of the interests of the State. The majority prevents federal courts from implementing state policies through equitable enforcement of state law. Instead, federal courts are required to resolve cases on federal grounds that no state authority can undo. Leaving violations of state law unredressed and ensuring that the decisions of federal courts may never be reexamined by the States hardly comports with the respect for States as sovereign entities commanded by the
V
One basic fact underlies this case: far from immunizing petitioners’ conduct, the State of Pennsylvania prohibited it. Respondents do not complain about the conduct of the State of Pennsylvania—it is Pennsylvania‘s commands which they seek to enforce. Respondents seek only to have Pennhurst
Throughout its history this Court has derived strength from institutional self-discipline. Adherence to settled doctrine is presumptively the correct course.47 Departures are, of course, occasionally required by changes in the fabric of our society.48 When a court, rather than a legislature, initi-
I respectfully dissent.
Notes
In Larson, the Administrator of the War Assets Administration was in possession of coal that the plaintiff claimed the Administrator was contractually obligated to deliver to it. Instead of seeking damages for breach of contract in the Court of Claims, the plaintiff sought an injunction in the District Court. The Court held that the Administrator had acted properly in refusing to deliver the coal and instead insisting that the plaintiff seek its remedy in the Court of Claims.
“There was, it is true, an allegation that the Administrator was acting ‘illegally,’ and that the refusal to deliver was ‘unauthorized.’ But these allegations were not based and did not purport to be based upon any lack of delegated power. Nor could they be, since the Administrator was empowered by the sovereign to administer a general sales program encompassing the negotiation of contracts, the shipment of goods and the receipt of payment. A normal concomitant of such powers, as a matter of general agency law, is the power to refuse delivery when, in the agent‘s view, delivery is not called for under a contract and the power to sell goods which the agent believes are still his principal‘s to sell.” 337 U. S., at 691-692 (footnotes omitted).
Thus, the Administrator had acted properly. He was doing what any agent would do—holding on to property he believed was his principal‘s and insisting that the claimant sue the principal if it wanted the property. He was merely exercising the “normal” duties of a sales agent. Congress envisioned that he do exactly that; the remedy it had provided required the claimant to sue for damages in the Court of Claims rather than obtaining the property directly from the Administrator, and no one had questioned the constitutional sufficiency of that alternative remedy. See McCord, Fault Without Liability: Immunity of Federal Employees, 1966 U. Ill. Law Forum 849, 862-867. “Since the plaintiff had not made an affirmative allegation of any relevant statutory limitation upon the Administrator‘s powers, and had made no claim that the Administrator‘s action amounted to an unconstitutional taking, the Court ruled that the suit must fail as an effort to enjoin the United States.” Malone v. Bowdoin, 369 U. S. 643, 647 (1962). Malone can be explained similarly. These cases hold that Congress had empowered the governmental official to make necessary decisions about whether to hold on to property the official believes is the Government‘s, at least pending the aggrieved party‘s remedy in the Claims Court (formerly Court of Claims) under the
This is an especially odd context in which to repudiate settled law because changes in our social fabric favor limitation rather than expansion of sovereign immunity. The concept that the sovereign can do no wrong and that citizens should be remediless in the face of its abuses is more a relic of medieval thought than anything else.
“Whether this immunity is an absolute survival of the monarchial privilege, or is a manifestation merely of power, or rests on abstract logical grounds, it undoubtedly runs counter to modern democratic notions of the moral responsibility of the State. Accordingly, courts reflect a strong legislative momentum in their tendency to extend the legal responsibility of Government and to confirm Maitland‘s belief, expressed nearly fifty years ago that, it is a wholesome sight to see “the Crown” sued and answering for its torts.” Great Northern Life Ins. Co. v. Read, 322 U. S. 47, 59 (1944) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting) (citation omitted).
In the even older decision of Poindexter v. Greenhow, 114 U. S. 270 (1885), the Court, after observing that “the distinction between the government of a State and the State itself is important; and should be observed,” id., at 290, wrote:
“This distinction is essential to the idea of constitutional government. To deny it or blot it out obliterates the line of demarcation that separates constitutional government from absolutism, free self-government based on the sovereignty of the people from that despotism, whether of the one or the many, which enables the agent of the State to declare and decree that he is the State; to say ‘L‘Etat c‘est moi.’ Of what avail are written constitutions whose bills of right for the security of individual liberty have been written, too often, with the blood of martyrs shed upon the battle-field and the scaffold, if their limitations and restraints upon power may be overpassed with impunity by the very agencies created and appointed to guard, defend, and enforce them; and that, too, with the sacred authority of law, not only compelling obedience, but entitled to respect? And how else can these principles of individual liberty and right be maintained, if, when violated, the judicial tribunals are forbidden to visit penalties upon individual offenders, who are the instruments of wrong, whenever they interpose the shield of the State? The doctrine is not to be tolerated. The whole frame and scheme of the political institutions of this country, State and Federal, protest against it. Their continued existence is not compatible with it. It is the doctrine of absolutism, pure, simple, and naked....” Id., at 291.
See also Gibbons, The Eleventh Amendment and State Sovereign Immunity: A Reinterpretation, 83 Colum. L. Rev. 1889 (1983).
In the following cases the Court held injunctive relief may issue against state officers on the basis of state law after explicitly rejecting their
Since petitioners’ position applies also to federal sovereign immunity (indeed the principal case on which they rely, Larson, is a federal sovereign immunity case), the following additional cases which refused to apply sovereign immunity to suits against federal officers acting within the scope of their authority because the plaintiff had alleged that the officers had engaged in unlawful conduct are rejected: Little v. Barreme, 2 Cranch 170 (1804); Wise v. Withers, 3 Cranch 331 (1806); Mitchell v. Harmony, 13 How. 115 (1852); Bates v. Clark, 95 U. S. 204 (1877); Belknap v. Schild, 161 U. S. 10 (1896); Sloan Shipyards Corp. v. United States Shipping Bd. Emergency Fleet Corp., 258 U. S. 549 (1922); Santa Fe Pacific R. Co. v. Fall, 259 U. S. 197 (1922); Philadelphia Co. v. Stimson, 223 U. S. 605 (1912); Land v. Dollar, 330 U. S., at 738. Larson itself cites most of these cases with approval, and disapproves of none of them. All are overruled today. In fact, today the Court repudiates the two-track analysis of Larson, since in Larson the Court stated that conduct which has been specifically prohibited by statute is not protected by sovereign immunity even if it is performed within the scope of the official‘s duties, yet today the Court holds that even if an officer violates a statute, his conduct is protected by sovereign immunity. The Court also overrules the cases cited in n. 52, infra. If some of these cases have been rarely cited, see ante, at 115-116, n. 27, this is because until today the law was thought to be well settled on this point.