''Hans v. Louisiana'', 134 U.S. 1 (1890), was a decision of the
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
determining that the
Eleventh Amendment prohibits a citizen of a U.S. state to sue that state in a
federal court. Citizens cannot bring suits against their own state for cases related to the federal constitution and federal laws. The court left open the question of whether a citizen may sue his or her state in state courts. That ambiguity was resolved in ''
Alden v. Maine
''Alden v. Maine'', 527 U.S. 706 (1999), was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States about whether the United States Congress may use its Article I of the United States Constitution, Article I powers to abrogate a state's sovereign ...
'' (1999), in which the Court held that a state's sovereign immunity forecloses suits against a state government in state court.
Facts
The
plaintiff
A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of t ...
, Hans, was a citizen of the state of
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
. Hans owned
bonds issued by the state, and was concerned that a recent change to the state constitution would render the bonds invalid. Hans filed a suit against the state in the
United States District Court
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district co ...
, asserting that Louisiana was impairing the obligations of a contract, which was forbidden by
Article I, Section 10 of the
United States Constitution.
Issue
The question facing the Court was "whether a state can be sued in a Circuit Court of the United States by one of its own citizens upon a suggestion that the case is one that arises under the Constitution or laws of the United States." The Court noted that the Constitution does not specifically provide for federal jurisdiction in suits between a citizen and a state, but
Article III does give the federal courts jurisdiction over "all cases" arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States. Here, Hans was asserting a violation of the federal Constitution as his cause of action.
Furthermore, the Court was well aware that nearly a century earlier, in the Supreme Court decision in ''
Chisholm v. Georgia'', , holding that states could be sued in federal courts by citizens of ''other'' states, had sparked negative reaction, and two years later Congress and the states expressed their will in the
Eleventh Amendment. That Amendment expressly forbade citizens of one state from suing another state, but said nothing about citizens suing their own state. Thus the Court was left to resolve the issue of whether such a suit was therefore allowed.
Result
Justice
Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...
Joseph Bradley
Joseph Philo Bradley (March 14, 1813 – January 22, 1892) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1870 to 1892. He was also a member of the Electoral Commission that decided ...
, writing for the Court, first examined the discussions surrounding the ratification of the Constitution. He noted that
Alexander Hamilton had written a passage in ''
The Federalist Papers
''The Federalist Papers'' is a collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the collective pseudonym "Publius" to promote the ratification of the Constitution of the United States. The c ...
'', in
Federalist No. 81, assuring his audience that the Constitution would not remove the states' traditional immunity from lawsuits. The Court then examined similar language in statements made by
James Madison
James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for h ...
and
John Marshall in the
Virginia convention held to ratify the Constitution. Both asserted that the federal power to hear claims brought by a state against a citizen of another state would not apply in the reverse, hence that one state could not be sued in federal court by citizens of another.
The Court suggested that the framers of the Constitution had not addressed the possibility of a citizen suing his own state because such a thing would simply be inconceivable to them. At the time the Constitution was written, states had ''always'' been immune from such suits, unless the state itself
consent
Consent occurs when one person voluntarily agrees to the proposal or desires of another. It is a term of common speech, with specific definitions as used in such fields as the law, medicine, research, and sexual relationships. Consent as und ...
ed to be sued. Furthermore, the
Judiciary Acts of 1789 and
1802
Events
January–March
* January 5 – Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, begins removal of the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon in Athens, claiming they were at risk of destruction during the O ...
had granted the federal courts
jurisdiction
Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels.
J ...
"concurrent with the courts of the several states," indicating that
the Congress had not contemplated the possibility that the federal courts would have any powers unknown to the state courts.
Finally, the Court noted the argument made by Justice Marshall in another case, that the Supreme Court could hear ''appeals'' of a state's successful suit against a citizen precisely because this was not the same thing as a citizen's suit against the state. Instead, Marshall compared them to suits against the United States, which were clearly forbidden at the time.
Harlan's concurrence
Justice
John Marshall Harlan
John Marshall Harlan (June 1, 1833 – October 14, 1911) was an American lawyer and politician who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1877 until his death in 1911. He is often called "The Great Dissenter" due to his ...
wrote a brief concurring opinion, agreeing with the outcome in the case, but asserting that the Court's criticism of the ''Chisholm'' case was misplaced. Harlan thought that ''Chisholm'' had been decided correctly, based on the language of the Constitution at the time of the decision.
Later developments
''
Ex parte Young'' (1908) determined that a citizen could sue a state official to prevent that official from carrying out a state policy that was deemed unconstitutional. ''
Fitzpatrick v. Bitzer'' found that the
Fourteenth Amendment gave the Congress the power to
abrogate state immunity from suit to the extent that this was necessary to protect Constitutional rights protected by the Amendment.
In 1987, ''Welch v. Texas Department of Highways''
led to a 5–4 decision in the U.S. Supreme Court, with Justice
Antonin Scalia "concurring in part and concurring in the judgment." Four justices upheld ''Hans'', while Justice
Antonin Scalia concluded that Congress had assumed ''Hans'' when enacting the
Jones Act and the Federal Employer's Liability Act.
In the late 1990s, the
Rehnquist
William Hubbs Rehnquist ( ; October 1, 1924 – September 3, 2005) was an American attorney and jurist who served on the U.S. Supreme Court for 33 years, first as an associate justice from 1972 to 1986 and then as the 16th chief justice from ...
court issued a series of decisions reinforcing state immunity from suit under the Eleventh Amendment, starting with ''
Seminole Tribe v. Florida
''Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida'', 517 U.S. 44 (1996), was a Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court case which held that Article One of the U.S. Constitution did not give the United States Congress the power to abrog ...
'' (1996).
See also
*
List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 134
References
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
United States Supreme Court cases
United States Supreme Court cases of the Fuller Court
1890 in United States case law
United States Eleventh Amendment case law
Legal history of Louisiana
1890 in Louisiana
Government bonds issued by the United States