Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/19-1039_8n5a.pdf
Page Number: 34.0

2 

PENNEAST PIPELINE CO. v. NEW JERSEY 

BARRETT, J., dissenting 

“authorization  of  suits  by  private  parties  against  uncon-
senting States.”  Seminole Tribe of Fla. v. Florida, 517 U. S. 
44, 72 (1996).  Consistent with this principle, we have re-
jected arguments that the Indian Commerce Clause, the In-
terstate  Commerce  Clause,  or  the  Intellectual  Property
Clause  allows  Congress  to  abrogate  a  State’s  immunity 
from suit.  Ibid.; Allen, 589 U. S., at ___–___ (slip op., at 6– 
7).

We  have  recognized  but  one  exception  to  this  general
limit on Congress’ Article I powers: the Bankruptcy Clause. 
Id., at ___ (slip op., at 7).  Based on the “principally in rem” 
nature of bankruptcy jurisdiction and the “ ‘unique history’ ” 
of that clause, we reasoned that States “already ‘agreed in 
the plan of the Convention not to assert any sovereign im-
munity defense’ in bankruptcy proceedings.”  Id., at ___–___ 
(slip op., at 7–8) (quoting Central Va. Community College v. 
Katz, 546 U. S. 356, 377 (2006)).  Other than this “good-for-
one-clause-only  holding,”  we  have  not  held  that  Article  I 
trumps state sovereign immunity.  Allen, 589 U. S., at ___ 
(slip op., at 9).1 

State surrender of immunity to private suits is therefore
rare in our constitutional system.  Nonetheless, the Court 
insists that private condemnation suits are one of the rare
exceptions. 

II 
A 
According to the Court, the States surrendered their im-
munity  to  private  condemnation  suits  in  the  “plan  of  the
Convention.”  Ante, at 15.  Making this showing is no easy 
task.  We will not conclude that States relinquished their 
sovereign  immunity  absent  “compelling  evidence  that  the 

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1 Apart from Article I, we have recognized that Congress can subject 
nonconsenting  States  to  private  suits  pursuant  to  its  power  to  enforce 
the  Fourteenth  Amendment.  Fitzpatrick  v.  Bitzer,  427  U. S.  445,  456 
(1976).