Source: https://m.openjurist.org/498/us/439/dennis-v-l-higgins
Timestamp: 2019-11-14 14:18:58
Document Index: 789141556

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 19833', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 8', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 2', '§ 1', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1979', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 10', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1988', '§ 1983', '§ 1988', '§ 1341', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1', '§ 2', '§ 1983', '§ 1343']

498 US 439 Dennis v. L Higgins | OpenJurist
498 U.S. 439 - Dennis v. L Higgins
498 US 439 Dennis v. L Higgins
111 S.Ct. 865
112 L.Ed.2d 969
Mark E. DENNIS, Petitioner,
Margaret L. HIGGINS, Director, Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles, et al.
Petitioner motor carrier filed suit in a Nebraska trial court, claiming, inter alia, that certain "retaliatory" taxes and fees the State imposed on motor carriers and vehicles such as his, which are registered in other States but operate in Nebraska, constituted an unlawful burden on interstate commerce and that respondents were liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Among other things, the court concluded that the taxes and fees violated the Commerce Clause and permanently enjoined respondents from assessing, levying, or collecting them; but it dismissed petitioner's § 1983 claim. The State Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal, holding that there is no cause of action under § 1983 for Commerce Clause violations because the Clause allocates power between the State and Federal Governments and does not establish individual rights against the government.
(b) The Commerce Clause confers "rights, privileges, or immunities" within the meaning of § 1983. In addition to conferring power on the Federal Government, the Clause is a substantive restriction on permissible state regulation of interstate commerce. And individuals injured by state action violating this aspect of the Clause may sue and obtain injunctive and declaratory relief. The three considerations for determining whether a federal statute confers a "right" within the meaning of § 1983—that the provision creates obligations binding on the governmental unit, that the plaintiff's interest is not too vague and amorphous to be beyond the judiciary's competence to enforce, and that the provision was intended to benefit the plaintiff—also weigh in favor of recognition of a right under the Clause. Respondents' argument that the Clause was not designed to benefit the individual has been implicitly rejected, Boston Stock Exchange v. State Tax Comm'n, 429 U.S. 318, 321, n. 3, 97 S.Ct. 599, 602, n. 3, 50 L.Ed.2d 514, and this Court's repeated references to "rights" under the Clause constitute a recognition that it was intended to benefit those who are engaged in interstate commerce, see, e.g., Crutcher v. Kentucky, 141 U.S. 47, 57, 11 S.Ct. 851, 853, 35 L.Ed. 649. Respondents' attempt to analogize the Commerce Clause to the Supremacy Clause, which does not confer "rights, privileges, or immunities" under § 1983, is also rejected. Unlike the Commerce Clause, the Supremacy Clause is not a source of federal rights but merely secures federal rights by according them priority when they come into conflict with state law. The fact that the protection from interference with trade conferred by the Commerce Clause may be qualified or eliminated by Congress does not mean that it cannot be a "right," for, until Congress does so, such protection operates as a guarantee of freedom for private conduct that the State may not abridge. Pp. 446-451.
This case presents the question whether suits for violations of the Commerce Clause may be brought under 93 Stat. 1284, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 1983. We hold that they may. I
Petitioner does business as an unincorporated motor carrier with his principal place of business in Ohio. He owns tractors and trailers that are registered in Ohio and operated in several States including Nebraska. On December 17, 1984, he filed a class-action suit in a Nebraska trial court challenging the constitutionality of certain "retaliatory" taxes and fees imposed by the State of Nebraska on motor carriers with vehicles registered in other States and operated in Nebraska.1 In his complaint, petitioner claimed, inter alia, that the taxes and fees constituted an unlawful burden on interstate commerce and that respondents were liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Petitioner sought declaratory and injunctive relief, refunds of all retaliatory taxes and fees paid, and attorney's fees and costs.
The Supreme Court of Nebraska affirmed the dismissal of petitioner's § 1983 claim, but reversed the trial court's allowance of fees and expenses under the common fund doctrine. See Dennis v. State, 234 Neb. 427, 451 N.W.2d 676 (1990). With respect to the § 1983 claim, the Nebraska Supreme Court held that "[d]espite the broad language of § 1983 . . . there is no cause of action under § 1983 for violations of the commerce clause." Id., at 430, 451 N.W.2d, at 678. The court relied largely on the reasoning in Consolidated Freightways Corp. of Delaware v. Kassel, 730 F.2d 1139 (CA8), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 834, 105 S.Ct. 126, 83 L.Ed.2d 68 (1984), which held that claims under the Commerce Clause are not cognizable under § 1983 because, among other things, "the Commerce Clause does not establish individual rights against government, but instead allocates power between the state and federal governments." 730 F.2d, at 1144.
As the Supreme Court of Nebraska recognized, see 234 Neb., at 430, 451 N.W.2d, at 678, there is a division of authority on the question whether claims for violations of the Commerce Clause may be brought under § 1983.2 We granted certiorari to resolve this issue, 495 U.S. 956, 110 S.Ct. 2559, 109 L.Ed.2d 741 (1990), and we now reverse. II
A broad construction of § 19833 is compelled by the statutory language, which speaks of deprivations of "any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws." (Emphasis added.) Accordingly, we have "repeatedly held that the coverage of [§ 1983] must be broadly construed." Golden State Transit Corp. v. Los Angeles, 493 U.S. 103, 105, 110 S.Ct. 444, 448, 107 L.Ed.2d 420 (1989). The legislative history of the section also stresses that as a remedial statute, it should be " 'liberally and beneficently construed.' " Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 684, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 2032, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978) (quoting Rep. Shellabarger, Cong.Globe, 42d Cong., 1st Sess., App. 68 (1871)).4 As respondents argue, the "prime focus" of § 1983 and related provisions was to ensure "a right of action to enforce the protections of the Fourteenth Amendment and the federal laws enacted pursuant thereto," Chapman v. Houston Welfare Rights Organization, 441 U.S. 600, 611, 99 S.Ct. 1905, 1913, 60 L.Ed.2d 508 (1979), but the Court has never restricted the section's scope to the effectuation of that goal. Rather, we have given full effect to its broad language, recognizing that § 1983 "provide[s] a remedy, to be broadly construed, against all forms of official violation of federally protected rights." Monell, supra, 436 U.S., at 700-701, 98 S.Ct., at 2041. Thus, for example, we have refused to limit the phrase "and laws" in § 1983 to civil rights or equal protection laws. See Maine v. Thiboutot, 448 U.S. 1, 4, 6-8, 100 S.Ct. 2502, 2504, 2505-2506, 65 L.Ed.2d 555 (1980).
Even more relevant to this case, we have rejected attempts to limit the types of constitutional rights that are encompassed within the phrase "rights, privileges, or immunities." For example, in Lynch v. Household Finance Corp., 405 U.S. 538, 92 S.Ct. 1113, 31 L.Ed.2d 424 (1972), we refused to limit the phrase to "personal" rights, as opposed to "property" rights.5 We first noted that neither the words nor the legislative history of the statute distinguished between personal and property rights. Id., at 543, 92 S.Ct., at 1117. We also rejected that distinction because of the "virtual impossibility" of applying it, particularly in "mixed" cases involving both types of rights. Id., at 550-551, 92 S.Ct., at 1121. We further concluded that "the dichotomy between personal liberties and property rights is a false one. . . . The right to enjoy property without unlawful deprivation, no less than the right to speak or the right to travel, is in truth a 'personal' right, whether the 'property' in question be a welfare check, a home, or a savings account." Id., at 552, 92 S.Ct., at 1122. See also United States v. Price, 383 U.S. 787, 800-806, 86 S.Ct. 1152, 1160-1163, 16 L.Ed.2d 267 (1966).
Petitioner contends that the Commerce Clause confers "rights, privileges, or immunities" within the meaning of § 1983. We agree. The Commerce Clause provides that "Congress shall have Power . . . [t]o regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes." U.S. Const., Art. I, § 8, cl. 3. Although the language of that Clause speaks only of Congress' power over commerce, "the Court long has recognized that it also limits the power of the States to erect barriers against interstate trade." Lewis v. BT Investment Managers, Inc., 447 U.S. 27, 35, 100 S.Ct. 2009, 2015, 64 L.Ed.2d 702 (1980).6
Respondents argue, as the court below held, that the Commerce Clause merely allocates power between the Federal and State Governments and does not confer "rights." Brief for Respondents 14-17. There is no doubt that the Commerce Clause is a power-allocating provision, giving Congress pre-emptive authority over the regulation of interstate commerce. It is also clear, however, that the Commerce Clause does more than confer power on the Federal Government; it is also a substantive "restriction on permissible state regulation" of interstate commerce. Hughes v. Oklahoma, 441 U.S. 322, 326, 99 S.Ct. 1727, 1731, 60 L.Ed.2d 250 (1979). The Commerce Clause "has long been recognized as a self-executing limitation on the power of the States to enact laws imposing substantial burdens on such commerce." South-Central Timber Development, Inc. v. Wunnicke, 467 U.S. 82, 87, 104 S.Ct. 2237, 2240, 81 L.Ed.2d 71 (1984). In addition, individuals injured by state action that violates this aspect of the Commerce Clause may sue and obtain injunctive and declaratory relief. See, e.g., McKesson Corp. v. Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, Dept. of Business Regulation of Florida, 496 U.S. 18, 31, 110 S.Ct. 2238, 2247, 110 L.Ed.2d 17 (1990). Indeed, the trial court in the case before us awarded petitioner such relief, and respondents do not contest that decision. We have also recently held that taxpayers who are required to pay taxes before challenging a state tax that is subsequently determined to violate the Commerce Clause are entitled to retrospective relief "that will cure any unconstitutional discrimination against interstate commerce during the contested tax period." Id., at 51, 110 S.Ct., at 2258. This combined restriction on state power and entitlement to relief under the Commerce Clause amounts to a "right, privilege, or immunity" under the ordinary meaning of those terms.7
The Court has often described the Commerce Clause as conferring a "right" to engage in interstate trade free from restrictive state regulation. In Crutcher v. Kentucky, 141 U.S. 47, 11 S.Ct. 851, 35 L.Ed. 649 (1891), in which the Court struck down a license requirement imposed on certain out-of-state companies, the Court stated: "To carry on interstate commerce is not a franchise or a privilege granted by the State; it is a right which every citizen of the United States is entitled to exercise under the Constitution and laws of the United States." Id., at 57, 11 S.Ct., at 853. Similarly, Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Kansas ex rel. Coleman, 216 U.S. 1, 26, 30 S.Ct. 190, 197, 54 L.Ed. 355 (1910), referred to "the substantial rights of those engaged in interstate commerce." And Garrity v. New Jersey, 385 U.S. 493, 500, 87 S.Ct. 616, 620, 17 L.Ed.2d 562 (1967), declared that engaging in interstate commerce is a "righ[t] of constitutional stature." More recently, Boston Stock Exchange v. State Tax Comm'n, 429 U.S. 318, 97 S.Ct. 599, 50 L.Ed.2d 514 (1977), held that regional stock exchanges had standing to challenge a tax on securities transactions as violating the Commerce Clause because, among other things, the exchanges were "asserting their right under the Commerce Clause to engage in interstate commerce free of discriminatory taxes on their business and they allege that the transfer tax indirectly infringes on that right." Id., at 320, n. 3, 97 S.Ct., at 602, n. 3.
"In deciding whether a federal right has been violated, we have considered [1] whether the provision in question creates obligations binding on the governmental unit or rather 'does no more than express a congressional preference for certain kinds of treatment.' Pennhurst State School and Hospital v. Halderman, 451 U.S. 1, 19 [101 S.Ct. 1531, 1541, 67 L.Ed.2d 694] (1981). [2] The interest the plaintiff asserts must not be 'too vague and amorphous' to be 'beyond the competence of the judiciary to enforce.' Wright v. Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority, 479 U.S. 418, 431-432 [107 S.Ct. 766, 774, 775, 93 L.Ed.2d 781] (1987). [3] We have also asked whether the provision in question was 'intend[ed] to benefit' the putative plaintiff. Id., at 430 [107 S.Ct., at 773]; see also id., at 433 [107 S.Ct., at 775] (O'CONNOR, J., dissenting) (citing Cort v. Ash, 422 U.S. 66, 78 [95 S.Ct. 2080, 2087, 45 L.Ed.2d 26] (1975)." Id., at 106, 110 S.Ct., at 448.
See also Wilder v. Virginia Hospital Assn., 496 U.S. 498, 509, 110 S.Ct. 2510, ----, 110 L.Ed.2d 455 (1990). Respondents do not dispute that the first two considerations weigh in favor of recognition of a right here, but seize upon the third consideration—intent to benefit the plaintiff—arguing that the Commerce Clause does not confer rights within the meaning of § 1983 because it was not designed to benefit individuals, but rather was designed to promote national economic and political union. Brief for Respondents 19-24.
This argument, however, was implicitly rejected in Boston Stock Exchange, supra, 429 U.S., at 321, n. 3, 97 S.Ct., at 603, n. 3, where we found that the plaintiffs were arguably within the "zone of interests" protected by the Commerce Clause. Moreover, the Court's repeated references to "rights" under the Commerce Clause constitute a recognition that the Clause was intended to benefit those who, like petitioner, are engaged in interstate commerce. The "[c]onstitutional protection against burdens on commerce is for [their] benefit. . . ." Morgan v. Virginia, 328 U.S. 373, 376-377, 66 S.Ct. 1050, 1053, 90 L.Ed. 1317 (1946). As Justice Jackson, writing for the Court, eloquently explained:
Respondents attempt to analogize the Commerce Clause to the Supremacy Clause, Brief for Respondents 17-18, which we have held does not by itself confer any "rights, privileges, or immunities" within the meaning of § 1983. See Golden State, supra, at 106, 110 S.Ct., at ----; Chapman, 441 U.S., at 613, 99 S.Ct., at 1913. The Supremacy Clause, however, is "not a source of any federal rights"; rather, it " 'secure[s]' federal rights by according them priority whenever they come in conflict with state law." Ibid. By contrast, the Commerce Clause of its own force imposes limitations on state regulation of commerce and is the source of a right of action in those injured by regulations that exceed such limitations.8
Respondents also argue that the protection from interference with trade conferred by the Commerce Clause cannot be a "right" because it is subject to qualification or elimination by Congress. Brief for Respondents 21. That argument proves too much, however, because federal statutory rights may also be altered or eliminated by Congress. Until Congress does so, such rights operate as "a guarantee of freedom for private conduct that the State may not abridge." Golden State, supra, at 112, 110 S.Ct., at 452. The same is true of the Commerce Clause.9
In Golden State Transit Corp. v. Los Angeles, 493 U.S. 103, 114, 110 S.Ct. 444, ----, 107 L.Ed.2d 420 (1990), I dissented from the Court's determination that 42 U.S.C. § 1983 creates a cause of action for damages when the only wrong committed by the State or local entity is its misapprehension of the boundary between state and federal power. Today's decision compounds the error of Golden State. The majority drifts far from the purposes and history of § 1983 and again holds § 1983 applicable to a State's quite innocent but mistaken judgment respecting the shifting boundary between two sovereign powers. The majority removes one of the statute's few remaining limits and increases the burden that a state or local government will face in defending its economic regulation and taxation. With respect, I dissent.
* The majority must acknowledge, under even Golden State, that not all violations of federal law give rise to a § 1983 action. The plaintiff must assert "rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws." 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The majority appears to base its decision upon three grounds. First, the "ordinary meaning" of the term "right" as confirmed by Black's Law Dictionary indicates that the Commerce Clause provides petitioner a right. Ante, at 447, and n. 7. Second, our cases contain scattered references to a "right" to engage in interstate commerce. Ante, at 448. And third, the Commerce Clause purportedly meets Golden State's test to determine whether a statutory violation gives rise to a § 1983 cause of action, because the Commerce Clause was intended to benefit those who engage in interstate commerce. Ante, at 448. The majority errs, I must submit, when it ignores what the sponsors of § 1983 told us about the scope of the phrase "rights, privileges or immunities secured by the Constitution," and errs further when it applies the Golden State test in this context. Even were I to apply the majority's various tests, moreover, I would reach the opposite conclusion.
Section 1983 has its origins in § 2 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, 14 Stat. 27, and § 1 of the Civil Rights Act of 1871, 17 Stat. 13. See Lynch v. Household Finance Corp., 405 U.S. 538, 543, n. 7, 92 S.Ct. 1113, 1118, n. 7, 31 L.Ed.2d 424 (1972). Until recent cases, we have placed great reliance upon the sponsors of the 1871 Act in interpreting the scope of § 1983. See, e.g., Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 690, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 2035, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978) ("[A]nalysis of the legislative history of the Civil Rights Act of 1871 compels the conclusion that Congress did intend municipalities . . . to be included among those persons to whom § 1983 applies" (emphasis in original)); Lynch, supra, 405 U.S., at 545-546, 92 S.Ct., at 1118-1119 (sponsors intended § 1983 to protect property rights as well as personal rights); Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167, 172-185, 81 S.Ct. 473, 476-483, 5 L.Ed.2d 492 (1961) (legislative history of § 1983 supports the conclusion that § 1983 plaintiff need not exhaust state remedies).
This passage confirms Representative Shellabarger's view that all but three provisions of the Constitution as first enacted allocate power rather than secure the rights of persons "as between such persons and the States," and that the power-allocating provisions had not been "enforced" by legislation, but instead could be asserted as grounds for invalidating state action. Ibid.1 To those original provisions which secure rights of persons with respect to States, and within the meaning of § 1983, the sponsors of § 1983 added the constitutional guarantees contained in the Civil War Amendments, including the provisions of the Bill of Rights incorporated into the Fourteenth Amendment. Every specific mention of rights secured by the 1871 Act refers to these constitutional provisions. See, e.g., Cong.Globe 475-476 (Rep. Dawes; privileges and immunities, Bill of Rights); id., at App. 84-85 (Rep. Bingham; equal protection, first eight Amendments); id., at App. 153 (Rep. Garfield; right to vote, privileges and immunities, equal protection).
Not only did the 42d Congress understand the difference between rights-securing and power-allocating provisions of the Constitution, but this Court's decisions of more than 100 years support the distinction. All previous cases in which this Court has determined (or assumed) that a constitutional violation gives rise to a § 1983 cause of action alleged violations of rights-securing provisions of the Constitution, not power-allocating provisions. See, e.g., Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S., at 171, 81 S.Ct., at 475 ("Allegation of facts constituting a deprivation under color of state authority of a right guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment satisfies to that extent the requirement of R.S. § 1979 [§ 1983]"); Lane v. Wilson, 307 U.S. 268, 59 S.Ct. 872, 83 L.Ed. 1281 (1939) (Fifteenth Amendment violation supports § 1983 cause of action).
In our only previous case discussing a § 1983 claim brought for the violation of a supposed right secured by Article I of the Constitution, we held that violation of the Contracts Clause does not give rise to a § 1983 cause of action. Carter v. Greenhow, 114 U.S. 317, 5 S.Ct. 928, 29 L.Ed. 202 (1885). As is true of the Commerce Clause, the Court held that the Contracts Clause can be said to secure individual rights "only indirectly and incidentally." Id., at 322, 5 S.Ct., at 930. The Court further explained that the only right secured by the Contracts Clause is the "right to have a judicial determination, declaring the nullity of the attempt to impair [a State's] obligation." Ibid.
The Contracts Clause of Art. I, § 10, provides that "[n]o State shall . . . pass any . . . Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts." At least such language would provide some support for an argument that the Contracts Clause prohibits States from "doing what is inconsistent with civil liberty." Cong.Globe 333 (Rep. Hoar). If the Contracts Clause, an express limitation upon States' ability to impair the contractual rights of citizens, does not secure rights within the meaning of § 1983, it assuredly demands a great leap for the majority to conclude that the Commerce Clause secures the rights of persons. The Commerce Clause is, if anything, a less obvious source of rights for purposes of § 1983, as its text only implies a limitation upon state power.
The majority rejects the weight of historical evidence in favor of scattered statements in our cases that refer to a "right" to engage in interstate commerce. Ante, at ----. None of these cases, however, hold that the Commerce Clause secures a personal right. Instead, they interpret the Commerce Clause as allocating power among sovereigns. See Crutcher v. Kentucky, 141 U.S. 47, 57, 11 S.Ct. 851, 853, 35 L.Ed. 649 (1891) (regulation of interstate commerce "not within the province of state legislation, but within that of national legislation"); Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Kansas, 216 U.S. 1, 21, 30 S.Ct. 190, 194, 54 L.Ed. 355 (1910) (same). If the majority chooses to rely upon such statements, far removed from the issue at hand, I would remind it that this Court, in a much closer context, has established that a case in which the plaintiff relies upon the dormant Commerce Clause "may be one arising under the Constitution, within the meaning of that term, as used in other statutes, but it is not one brought on account of the deprivation of a right, privilege or immunity secured by the Constitution." Bowman v. Chicago & Northwestern R. Co., 115 U.S. 611, 615-616, 6 S.Ct. 192, 194, 29 L.Ed. 502 (1885).2 The statements upon which the majority relies are weak support for its conclusion.
In similar fashion, McKesson Corp. v. Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, Dept. of Business Regulation of Fla., 496 U.S. 18, 110 S.Ct. 2238, 110 L.Ed.2d 17 (1990), in which the majority finds recent support for its view of the Commerce Clause, merely applies our traditional due process analysis for deprivation of property to the context of exaction of an unlawful tax. McKesson Corp. holds that if a State insists that taxpayers pay first and obtain review of a tax's validity in a later refund action, then due process requires meaningful postpayment relief for taxes paid pursuant to an unconstitutional scheme. Id., at 31, 110 S.Ct., at 2247. In discussing the nature of the constitutional violation, McKesson Corp. acknowledges that States are accorded great flexibility in structuring the remedy for a discriminatory tax that violates the Commerce Clause. Rather than refunding the tax, "to the extent consistent with other constitutional restrictions, the State may assess and collect back taxes from petitioner's competitors who benefited from the [discriminatory] rate reductions during the contested tax period." Id., at 40, 110 S.Ct., at 2252. If the State refused to provide any remedy, then the taxpayer would arguably have a § 1983 claim, but that claim would be for a deprivation of property without due process of law, a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, not of the Commerce Clause. McKesson Corp. in no way supports the existence of a § 1983 cause of action for Commerce Clause violations.
Finally, following Golden State, the majority asks whether the provision in question was intended to benefit the putative plaintiff. Ante, at 449. The majority fails to locate in the text or history of the Commerce Clause any such intent, but nevertheless concludes that any argument to the contrary was "implicitly rejected in Boston Stock Exchange [v. State Tax Comm'n, 429 U.S.,] at 321, n. 3 [97 S.Ct., at 603, n. 3], where we found that the plaintiffs were arguably within the 'zone of interests' protected by the Commerce Clause." Ante, at 449. I fail to see how a determination that a particular plaintiff is within the "zone of interests" protected by a provision requires a finding that the provision was intended to benefit that plaintiff, or secures a right for purposes of § 1983. To the contrary, our zone of interest cases have rejected any requirement that there be a "congressional purpose to benefit the would-be plaintiff." Clarke v. Securities Industry Assn., 479 U.S. 388, 399-400, 107 S.Ct. 750, 757, 93 L.Ed.2d 757 (1987). The plaintiff need only demonstrate a "plausible relationship" between his interest and the policies to be advanced by the relevant provision. Id., at 403, 107 S.Ct. at 759.3
In the Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Awards Act of 1976, Pub.L. 94-559, 90 Stat. 2641, codified at 42 U.S.C. § 1988, Congress authorized the award of attorney's fees to prevailing parties in, inter alia, § 1983 litigation. The award of attorney's fees encourages vindication of federal rights which, Congress recognized, might otherwise go unenforced because of the plaintiffs' lack of resources and the small size of any expected monetary recovery. See S.Rep. No. 94-1011, p. 6 (1976), U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1976, p. 5908. Congress was reassured that § 1988 would be "limited to cases arising under our civil rights laws, a category of cases in which attorneys fees have been traditionally regarded as appropriate." Id., at 4, U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1976, p. 5912.
Today's decision raises far more questions about the proper conduct of challenges to the validity of state taxation than it answers. The Tax Injunction Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1341, prevents any attempt in federal court to "enjoin, suspend or restrain" assessment or collection of a state tax, so long as "a plain, speedy and efficient remedy may be had in the courts of such State." The principle of comity likewise prevents a federal court from entertaining any action for damages under § 1983 to redress allegedly unconstitutional state taxation. Fair Assessment in Real Estate Assn., Inc. v. McNary, 454 U.S. 100, 102 S.Ct. 177, 70 L.Ed.2d 271 (1981). Relying upon the "overriding interests of the state in an efficient, expeditious and nondisruptive resolution of . . . tax disputes," Backus v. Chilivis, 236 Ga. 500, 505, 224 S.E.2d 370, 374 (1976), state courts have refused to permit plaintiffs to proceed under § 1983 where there exists a complete remedy under state law. Ibid.; Spencer v. South Carolina Tax Comm'n, 281 S.C. 492, 497, 316 S.E.2d 386, 388-389 (1984), aff'd by an equally divided Court, 471 U.S. 82, 105 S.Ct. 1859, 85 L.Ed.2d 62 (1985) (per curiam). These questions now become of paramount importance, as we risk destruction of state fiscal integrity in a manner which may require congressional correction.
"And, sir, every one of these—the only provisions where it was deemed that legislation was required to enforce the constitutional provisions—the only three where the rights or liabilities of persons in the States, as between these persons and the States, are directly provided for, Congress has by legislation affirmatively interfered to protect or to subject such persons." Cong.Globe, at App. 69-70 (emphasis added to reflect omissions in dissent).
It should first be noted that Shellabarger was not in the above quotation addressing the part of the 1871 statute that became § 1983, i.e., § 1. Rather, he was discussing § 2 of the bill, which made it a federal crime to engage in a conspiracy "to do any act in violation of the rights, privileges, or immunities of another person . . . committed within a place under the sole and exclusive jurisdiction of the United States." Id., at 68. A principal objection to that section was that Congress lacked the authority to enact it, because it infringed upon the powers reserved to the States by overriding their authority to define and punish crimes. See, id., at 69. In answering that argument, Shellabarger contended that Congress had the power to enforce by legislation "every one of the provisions of the Constitution." He observed that most of the provisions of the Constitution "which restrain and directly relate to the States" had been enforced by the courts without federal legislation, but noted that three provisions limiting state authority—the Extradition Clause, the Privileges and Immunities Clause, and the Fugitive Slave Clause had been enforced pursuant to federal legislation.
The statute at issue in Lynch was the jurisdictional counterpart to § 1983, 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3), which contains the same "rights, privileges, or immunities" phrase. Even the dissent in Lynch agreed "without reservation" that the phrase was not limited to violations of "personal" rights, but disagreed with the majority on a different issue. See 405 U.S., at 556, 92 S.Ct., at 1124.