Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution

“ Even that idea was spurned by the states, and hence resulted the eleventh amendment. In repudiating the jurisdiction of the federal courts in relation to the citizens of other states that amendment more than abandoned the claim as it related to citizens of the same state. It was abandoned on the principle that it had never been given; and on the further principle that the greater includes the lesser. No man had ever said or believed or thought, that it ought to have been given, or was given. The proposition would have been indignantly spurned, if made at the time of adopting the constitution. ”

“ However, the Supreme Court declined to sustain Congress when, under the guise of enforcing the Fourteenth Amendment by appropriate legislation, it enacted a statute which was not limited to take effect only in case a State should abridge the privileges of United States citizens, but applied no matter how well the State might have performed its duty, and would subject to punishment private individuals who conspired to deprive anyone of the equal protection of the laws. ”

“ Can we then say that the judgment Congress exercised was denied it by the Constitution? Can we establish a constitutional doctrine which forbids the elected representatives of the people to make this choice? Can we hold that the First Amendment deprives Congress of what it deemed necessary for the Government's protection? To make validity of legislation depend on judicial reading of events still in the womb of time—a forecast, that is, of the outcome of forces at best appreciated only with knowledge of the topmost secrets of nations—is to charge the judiciary with duties beyond its equipment. ”

“ We are concerned solely with determining whether the statute before us has exceeded the bounds imposed by the Constitution when First Amendment rights are at stake. The task of writing legislation which will stay within those bounds has been committed to Congress. Our decision today simply recognizes that, when legitimate legislative concerns are expressed in a statute which imposes a substantial burden on protected First Amendment activities, Congress must achieve its goal by means which have a 'less drastic' impact on the continued vitality of First Amendment freedoms. ”

“ The Court's distinction is untenable. The clear statement rule is not a mere canon of statutory interpretation. Instead, it derives from the Constitution itself. The rule protects the balance of power between the States and the Federal Government struck by the Constitution. Although the Eleventh Amendment spells out one aspect of that balance of power, the principle of federalism underlying the Amendment pervades the constitutional structure: The Constitution gives Congress only limited power to govern the Nation; the States retain power to govern locally. ”

“ The states may now by a constitutional amendment, with few limitations, change the whole structure and powers of the government, and thus legalize any present excess of power. And the general right of a society in other cases to change the government at the will of a majority of the whole people, in any manner, that may suit its pleasure, is undisputed, and seems indisputable. If there be any remedy at all for the minority in such cases, it is a remedy never provided for by human institutions. ”

“ The real interests served by the Eleventh Amendment are not to be sacrificed to elementary mechanics of captions and pleading. Application of the Young exception must reflect a proper understanding of its role in our federal system and respect for state courts instead of a reflexive reliance on an obvious fiction. ”

“ As I understand it, this Court's duty to guard constitutional liberties is to guard those liberties the Constitution defined, not those that may be defined from case to case on the basis of this Court's judgment as to the relative importance of individual liberty and governmental power. The majority's approach makes the First Amendment, not the rigid protection of liberty its language imports, but a poor flexible imitation. ”

“ Similarly, the Court has held that the efficacy of the ratification of a proposed constitutional amendment in the light of previous rejection or subsequent attempted withdrawal is political in nature, pertaining to the political departments, with the ultimate authority in Congress by virtue of its control over the promulgation of the adoption of amendments. ”

“ It will then be the constitution of our country, and entitled to defence. If Congress should chuse to avail themselves of a popular commotion to continue in being, as the fourth section justifies, and as the British parliament has repeatedly done, the only answer will be, that it is the constitution of our country, and the people chose it. It is therefore necessary to be exceedingly critical. Whatsoever way shall be chosen to secure our rights, the same resolve ought to contain the whole system of amendment. ”

“ Whether there is, or there is not this check, it is necessary for the stability of the Government to have it determined; and he would join in sentiment with the gentleman from Maryland in a wish that it might be settled. But he would have the amendment constitutionally made; for, if we ourselves do not understand the constitution, it is not likely that our constituents at large should understand it. If I am wrong now in the true meaning of the constitution, I have been wrong since its adoption. The people are the sovereign ”

“ The original proposal leading to the First Amendment was introduced into the House of Representatives by James Madison, and read as follows: "The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretence, infringed." ”

“ First Amendment rights are not merely curtailed by the construction of the Act which the Court adopts. Today's ruling abolishes First Amendment rights on a wholesale basis. Protection of minority groups, if any, can be no excuse. ”

“ That this amendment was intended to secure to every citizen an absolute right to speak, or write, or print, whatever he might please, without any responsibility, public or private, therefor, is a supposition too wild to be indulged by any rational man. This would be to allow to every citizen a right to destroy, at his pleasure, the reputation, the peace, the property, and even the personal safety of every other citizen. ”

“ The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
The only right which the Supreme Court has explicitly acknowledged as protected by this amendment is the right to engage in political activity. That recognition was accorded by way of dictum in United Public Workers v. Mitchell, where the powers of Congress to restrict the political activities of federal employees was sustained. ”

“ Its vitality is due to the fact that, by usage, judicial interpretation, and, when necessary, formal amendment, it can be thus adapted to the ever-accelerating changes of the most progressive age in history, and that a people have administered the Constitution who, in the process of such adaptation, have generally shown the same spirit of conservative self-restraint as did the men who framed it. ”

“ Whenever a measure is understood and believed to be necessary to promote the general welfare, the people will not fail to effect it. If they cannot, by construction, get round the constitution, they will, by an amendment, go directly to their object. Of the truth of this, experience has furnished ample proof. The danger is, that by attempting to extend constitutional restrictions too far, unnatural and mischievous exertions of power may be produced.
By the second amendment, the term of service of the Senators is to be reduced to three years; one-third to be chosen each year. ”

“ In the National Prohibition Cases [9] the Supreme Court ruled that in proposing an amendment the two Houses of Congress thereby indicated that they deemed it necessary. That same case also established the proposition that the vote required to propose an amendment was a vote of two thirds of the members present—assuming the presence of a quorum—and not a vote of two thirds of the entire membership present and absent. [10] The approval of the President is not necessary for a proposed amendment. ”