Briefs: Supreme Court considers state immunity+.

• Date: 06 March 2002

Byline: David Ziemer

U.S. Supreme Court considers state immunity from federal suits

By narrow margins, the U.S. Supreme Court in recent years has strengthened the 11th Amendment immunity that protects states from being sued in federal court.

But in oral arguments last week in the case of Lapides v. Board of Regents of University of Georgia System, No. 01-298, several justices seemed to suggest that the state of Georgia is going too far.

When Paul Lapides, a Kennesaw State University professor, sued the university in state court for defaming him in the course of a personnel dispute, the university had the case removed to federal court - and then tried to have the case dismissed as a violation of its 11th Amendment immunity from being sued in federal court.

The district judge ruled that the state could not have it both ways and that Georgia had waived its immunity the moment it removed the case to federal court. But the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and sided with the state.

During the arguments, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg labeled Georgia's tactic a "sham removal" and an "end run." Justice David Souter also implied that if the 11th Circuit was upheld, states in the future would "have the opportunity to sit back and see how things go" during litigation. If the case did not look good for a state as it proceeded, Souter suggested, it could invoke immunity under the 11th Amendment to...