Sovereign immunity
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Sovereign immunity is a term that refers to a political arrangement where a sovereign or government is immune from civil suits, criminal prosecutions, or other legal actions unless they consent to the lawsuit.
In the context of U.S. politics, the Eleventh Amendment grants limited sovereign immunity to state governments and the federal government.
Background
Derived from early English law, sovereign immunity was once an absolute doctrinal position that held federal, state, and local governments immune from tort liability arising from the activities of government. Today, the application of sovereign immunity is more ambiguous, as different governments have waived liability in differing degrees depending on the circumstances.[1][2]
The Supreme Court ruled in Chisholm v. Georgia (1793) that states did not possess sovereign immunity under the U.S. Constitution. Then-Chief Justice John Jay argued that U.S. citizens were the sovereigns under the Constitution. Jay wrote that since citizens were not immune from lawsuits, states also could not claim immunity against lawsuits.
The year after the Chisholm decision on March 4, 1794, Congress passed the Eleventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which the states ratified on February 7, 1795. Senator Caleb Strong of Massachusetts proposed the amendment following the Chisholm ruling to limit the ability of citizens to sue state governments. The amendment negated the ruling in Chisholm v. Georgia and established that citizens of U.S. states or foreign countries could not sue a state under most circumstances.[3]
The Eleventh Amendment says, "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."
In the years following the decision, the Supreme Court ruled that Congress could use its authority under Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment to negate a state's sovereign immunity under the Eleventh Amendment to correct discriminatory state actions. In the case Cohens v. Virginia, the Supreme Court ruled the federal judiciary could hear state criminal cases that involved questions of the U.S. Constitution or federal law.[3]
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