Central Virginia Community College v. Katz

Justice Thomas, with whom The Chief Justice, Justice Scalia, and Justice Kennedy join,

dissenting.

Under our Constitution, the States are not subject to suit by private parties for monetary relief absent their consent or a valid congressional abrogation, and it is “settled doctrine” that nothing in Article I of the Constitution establishes those preconditions. Alden v. Maine, 527 U. S. 706, 748 (1999). Yet the Court today casts aside these long-established principles to hold that the States are subject to suit by a rather unlikely class of individuals — bankruptcy trustees seeking recovery of…