Hans v. Louisiana

Hans v. Louisiana
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued January 22, 1890
Decided March 3, 1890
Full case nameBernard Hans v. State of Louisiana
Citations134 U.S. 1 (more)
10 S. Ct. 504; 33 L. Ed. 842; 1890 U.S. LEXIS 1943
Case history
Prior24 F. 55 (C.C.E.D. La. 1885)
SubsequentNone
Holding
No "arising under" jurisdiction granted either in federal law or in article III of the U.S. Constitution permits a citizen to sue his own state in federal court, except where that state consents to be sued.
Court membership
Chief Justice
Melville Fuller
Associate Justices
Samuel F. Miller · Stephen J. Field
Joseph P. Bradley · John M. Harlan
Horace Gray · Samuel Blatchford
Lucius Q. C. Lamar II · David J. Brewer
Case opinions
MajorityBradley, joined by Fuller, Miller, Field, Gray, Blatchford, Lamar, Brewer
ConcurrenceHarlan
Laws applied
U.S. Const. art. III, § 2; U.S. Const. amend. XI

Hans v. Louisiana, 134 U.S. 1 (1890), was a decision of the United States Supreme Court determining that the Eleventh Amendment prohibits a citizen of a U.S. state to sue that state in a federal court.[1] Citizens cannot bring suits against their own state for cases related to the federal constitution and federal laws.[2] 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 (1999), in which the Court held that a state's sovereign immunity forecloses suits against a state government in state court.[3]

  1. ^ Hans v. Louisiana, 134 U.S. 1 (1890).
  2. ^ "U.S. Constitution Annotated → Amendment XI. SUITS AGAINST STATES STATE → Sovereign Immunity → Expansion of the Immunity of the States". The Legal Information Institute from Cornell Law School at Cornell University. Archived from the original on April 7, 2020. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  3. ^ Alden v. Maine, 527 U.S. 706.