Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/529bv.pdf
Page Number: 854.0

529US3

Unit: $U59

[09-26-01 12:32:42] PAGES PGT: OPIN

Cite as: 529 U. S. 765 (2000)

779

Opinion of the Court

cause.” Ex parte McCardle, 7 Wall. 506, 514 (1869). Even
jurisdiction over the person (as opposed to subject-matter
jurisdiction) “is ‘an essential element of the jurisdiction
of a district . . . court,’ without which the court is ‘powerless
to proceed to an adjudication.’ ” Ruhrgas AG v. Marathon
Oil Co., 526 U. S. 574, 584 (1999) (quoting Employers Re-
insurance Corp. v. Bryant, 299 U. S. 374, 382 (1937)).

We nonetheless have routinely addressed before the ques-
tion whether the Eleventh Amendment forbids a particular
statutory cause of action to be asserted against States, the
question whether the statute itself permits the cause of ac-
tion it creates to be asserted against States (which it can do
only by clearly expressing such an intent). See, e. g., Kimel
v. Florida Bd. of Regents, 528 U. S. 62, 73–78 (2000); Semi-
nole Tribe of Fla. v. Florida, 517 U. S. 44, 55–57 (1996);
cf. Hafer v. Melo, 502 U. S. 21, 25–31 (1991); Mt. Healthy City
Bd. of Ed. v. Doyle, 429 U. S. 274, 277–281 (1977). When
these two questions are at issue, not only is the statutory
question “logically antecedent to the existence of ” the Elev-
enth Amendment question, Amchem Products, Inc. v. Wind-
sor, 521 U. S. 591, 612 (1997), but also there is no realistic
possibility that addressing the statutory question will ex-
pand the Court’s power beyond the limits that the jurisdic-
tional restriction has imposed. The question whether the
statute provides for suits against the States (as opposed, for
example, to the broader question whether the statute creates
any private cause of action whatever, or the question
whether the facts alleged make out a “false claim” under the
statute) does not, as a practical matter, permit the court to
pronounce upon any issue, or upon the rights of any person,
beyond the issues and persons that would be reached under
the Eleventh Amendment inquiry anyway. The ultimate
issue in the statutory inquiry is whether States can be sued
under this statute; and the ultimate issue in the Eleventh
Amendment inquiry is whether unconsenting States can be
sued under this statute. This combination of logical priority