Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution Totally Explained

Everything about Eleventh Amendment To The United States Constitution totally explained

The Eleventh Amendment (Amendment XI) of the United States Constitution was passed by the U.S. Congress on March 4, 1794, and was ratified on February 7, 1795. This Amendment deals with each State's sovereign immunity in regards to federal lawsuits. This Amendment was adopted in response to, and in order to overrule, the United States Supreme Court decision in Chisholm v. Georgia, .

Text

Summary

The Amendment was passed after the ruling of the United States Supreme Court in Chisholm v. Georgia,, that federal courts had the authority to hear cases in law and equity against states by private citizens, and that states didn't enjoy sovereign immunity from suits made by citizens of other states. Thus, the Amendment clarified of the Constitution, which gave diversity jurisdiction to the judiciary to hear cases "between a state and citizens of another state."
Although the Amendment's text does not, by its own terms, include suits brought by a citizen against his own state, the Supreme Court held, in Hans v. Louisiana, that the Amendment reflects a broader principle of sovereign immunity. As Justice Anthony Kennedy stated in Alden v. Maine :
David Souter said the states surrendered their sovereign immunity when they ratified the Constitution. The dissenters read the text of the Amendment as reflecting only a narrow form of sovereign immunity, limiting diversity jurisdiction of the federal courts, and they don't believe the structure of the Constitution insulates states from suits by individuals.
Sovereign immunity jurisprudence confers on non-consenting states immunity from suit for money damages or other equitable relief. Nonetheless, federal courts may enjoin state officials from violating federal law under Ex parte Young . Furthermore, the Supreme Court has held that the Congress, under the enforcement provision (Section 5) of the Fourteenth Amendment, may abrogate state immunity from suit. See, for example, Fitzpatrick v. Bitzer, . Also, in Central Virginia Community College v. Katz, the Court narrowed the scope of its previous sovereign immunity rulings, and held that the Bankruptcy Clause of Article I abrogated state sovereign immunity.

Proposal and ratification

Congress proposed the Eleventh Amendment on March 4, 1794. The following states ratified the amendment:

New York (March 27, 1794)
Rhode Island (March 31, 1794)
Connecticut (May 8, 1794)
New Hampshire (June 16, 1794)
Massachusetts (June 26, 1794)
Vermont (November 9, 1794)
Virginia (November 18, 1794)
Georgia (November 29, 1794)
Kentucky (December 7, 1794)
Maryland (December 26, 1794)
Delaware (January 23, 1795)
North Carolina (February 7, 1795) Ratification was completed on February 7, 1795. The amendment was subsequently ratified by South Carolina (December 4, 1797).

Further Information

Get more info on 'Eleventh Amendment To The United States Constitution'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://eleventh_amendment_to_the_united_states_constitution.totallyexplained.com">Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.