Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21-404_i5ea.pdf
Page Number: 12

Cite as:  596 U. S. ____ (2022) 

9 

Opinion of the Court 

“unequivocally” waive Federal Government’s sovereign im-
munity if “it is plausible to read the statute” differently). 

C 
We  find  Washington’s  other  arguments  unconvincing.
Washington emphasizes one phrase in the waiver statute,
namely, the phrase that allows a State to apply its workers’ 
compensation laws to federal premises “as if the premises 
were  under  the  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  the  State.”
§3172(a).  This phrase, however, appears immediately after 
the  “in  the  same  way  and  to  the  same  extent”  language. 
Ibid.  And, as we explained above, reading the two clauses 
together, the statute could plausibly be interpreted to allow 
only the extension of generally applicable workers’ compen-
sation laws to federal premises.  It thus does not clearly and
unambiguously  permit  the  kind  of  discrimination  that
Washington’s “federal workers only” law contains.

Washington also points to other congressional waivers of
intergovernmental  immunity  that  explicitly  maintain  the 
constitutional  prohibition  against  discriminatory  state 
laws.  Congress,  for  example,  has  waived  immunity  from
state taxation of a federal officer, but only “if the taxation
does not discriminate against the officer . . . because of the 
source of the pay or compensation.”  4 U. S. C. §111(a).  Con-
gress has also waived immunity from the application of cer-
tain state environmental laws to federal facilities, but only
if the law does not “apply any standard or requirement to 
such facilities which is more stringent than” the standards
applicable to nonfederal facilities.  42 U. S. C. §9620(a)(4).
The waiver statute here, Washington points out, does not 
contain any similarly explicit antidiscrimination language. 
This fact, however, does not tip the balance sufficiently in
Washington’s favor.  As we have explained, preventing dis-
crimination against the Federal  Government is a core  as-
pect of the intergovernmental immunity doctrine.  This im-
munity prohibits States from enacting discriminatory laws