Charles Evans Hughes

“ Expressly applying to suits in equity as well as at law, the amendment necessarily embraces demands for the enforcement of equitable rights and the prosecution of equitable remedies when these are asserted and prosecuted by an individual against a state. ”

“ Here, respondents are proceeding against the state itself to prevent the exercise of its authority to maintain a suit in its own court.
The proceeding by ancillary and supplemental bill to restrain the state from this exercise of authority is unquestionably a 'suit.' Said Chief Justice Marshall in Cohens v. Virginia, 6 Wheat. 264, 407, 408, 5 L.Ed. 257: 'What is a suit? We understand it to be prosecution or pursuit of some claim, demand or request; in law language, it is the prosecution of some demand in a court of justice. ”

“ The ancillary and supplemental bill is brought by the respondents directly against the state of Missouri. It is not a proceeding within the principle that suit may be brought against state officers to restrain an attempt to enforce an unconstitutional enactment. That principle is that the exemption of states from suit does not protect their officers from personal liability to those whose rights they have wrongfully invaded. ”

“ We express no opinion upon the question whether the decree of the District Court, entered during the lifetime of Sophie Franz, the life tenant, in this suit to which she, her trustees, and the remaindermen were parties, can be regarded as binding upon the state of Missouri with respect to its subsequent claim for inheritance taxes against the shares in controversy as a part of the life tenant's estate. ”