My Opinion: Basically this amendment is saying that a state cannot be sued for any reason. I like to think of it as the example if you enter into a contract with the state of Georgia to build a bridge. Once you build a bridge, the state refuses to pay you. The 11th Amendment says you cannot sue Georgia for the money. In some cases it can be good but in some cases it can be bad.
Chisholm v. Georgia
In 1777, the Executive Council of Georgia authorized the purchase of needed supplies from a South Carolina businessman. After receiving the supplies, Georgia did not deliver payments as promised. After the merchant's death, the executor of his estate, Alexander Chisholm, took the case to court in an attempt to collect from the state. Georgia maintained that it was a sovereign state not subject to the authority of the federal courts.
Was the state of Georgia subject to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and the federal government?
In a 4-to-1 decision, the justices held that "the people of the United States" intended to bind the states by the legislative, executive, and judicial powers of the national government. The Court held that supreme or sovereign power was retained by citizens themselves, not by the "artificial person" of the State of Georgia. The Constitution made clear that controversies between individual states and citizens of other states were under the jurisdiction of federal courts. State conduct was subject to judicial review.
My Opinion: This was the case that pretty much created the Eleventh Amendment. When cases like this come up between people, it is so much easier to already have it laid out how it is going to be handled so there is no room for error. Know people "should" know ahead of time what the law is so it eliminates worthless court fees.
The Eleventh Amendment's Curious History
Amending the Constitution to Overrule the Supreme Court
During the Revolutionary War a South Carolina merchant, Captain Robert Farquhar sold supplies to the State of Georgia on credit. Following the War, Georgia refused to pay Farquhar asserting that he was a British loyalist. Farquhar later died, and the executor of his estate, South Carolinian Alexander Chisolm sued the State of Georgia for the debt.
The Constitution Article III, Section 2
Chisolm sued Georgia in the Supreme Court of the United States on the basis of Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution, which reads in relevant part:
"The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity … ;--between a state and citizens of another state…”
In the case of Chisolm v. Georgia, the State of Georgia refused to appear in court. Georgia claimed that is was protected by the concept of sovereign immunity and could not be sued without its consent. The Supreme Court, led by first Chief Justice John Jay, disagreed relying on Article III, Section 2 and ordered Georgia to pay the debt to Farquhar’s estate.
Chisolm v. Georgia Leads to the Eleventh Amendment
The Supreme Court’s decision in 1793 was one of its earliest interpreting the Constitution, as the government under the Constitution was only four years old. The decision was also incredibly unpopular. It was so unpopular in Georgia, that the Georgia legislature passed a law providing that anyone attempting to enforce the Supreme Court decision would be subject to hanging.
The Chisolm v. Georgia decision was unpopular throughout the country. The decision was so disliked that the Eleventh Amendment was proposed and ratified very quickly. The Eleventh Amendment was ratified on February 4, 1795 and reads as follows:
“The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.“
Eleventh Amendment Overrules the Supreme Court
In Chisolm v. Georgia, the Supreme Court allowed a State to be sued in a federal court. The Eleventh Amendment effectively overruled the Supreme Court’s decision and modified Article III, Section 2. As a result of the Eleventh Amendment, States could no longer be sued by citizens of other States or foreign citizens in federal courts.
The Eleventh Amendment does not address the question of a State’s own citizens filing suit against the State in federal court, but in the intervening years, the Supreme Court has prohibited those suits as well, and also shielded States from having to appear before executive agencies as well. The Eleventh Amendment has been found to embody the concept of sovereign immunity and applied it to the States.
The Concept of Sovereign Immunity
The concept of sovereign immunity goes back to English common law. The thought was that since the king (the sovereign) was the source of the law, he could not break the law, or commit a legal wrong. When governments changed from monarchies ruled by kings to democracies governed by representatives of the people, the new sovereign became the State.
The Eleventh Amendment gives constitutional stature to the concept of sovereign immunity. As a result, States are immune to lawsuits unless they give permission to be sued. As with many things in law there are exceptions to this, and the major exception to State sovereign immunity arose with the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment.
My Opinion: This article gives a little more of what had to happen for this Amendment to become established. It's hard to imagine what U.S. citizens had go to go through for all of these Amendments to be permanently established to make the world we live in today what it is. Just one as simple as citizens cannot sue the federal government makes a huge impact as this article shows.
The thing I find interesting about the fourteenth amendment is where it says that the states cannot be sued unless they agree to it. I highly doubt that any person, let alone state, would agree to be sued. I think the only way that this would work would be the exceptions that the article "The Concept of Sovereign Immunity" mentions.
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