Opinion ID: 2634607
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The Alleged Conduct Violated Federal Law

Text: {27} According to a recent U.S. Supreme Court opinion, [i]n determining whether the doctrine of Ex parte Young avoids an Eleventh Amendment bar to suit, a court need only conduct a `straightforward inquiry' into whether [the] complaint alleges an ongoing violation of federal law... Verizon, 535 U.S. at 645, 122 S.Ct. 1753 (explaining that the inquiry into whether suit lies under Ex parte Young does not include analyzing the merits of the claim) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Because the ADEA remains applicable to the states, the straightforward inquiry described in Verizon applies in this case. To make a prima facie showing of an ADEA violation, Gill must establish that he was treated adversely in his employment because of his age, and that he was at least 40 years of age at the time of the alleged discrimination. See 29 U.S.C. §§ 623, 631(a). Pursuant to Section 10-11A-2(E) (prior to 2003 amendment), Gill was denied retirement benefits based solely on his age. The district court granted PERB's motion to dismiss based on constitutional sovereign immunity, without reaching the merits of the complaint. We are satisfied that Gill's complaint, on its face, sufficiently alleges an ongoing violation of the ADEA. The Suit Must Not Implicate Special State Sovereignty Interests {28} Even if a party brings an otherwise appropriate Ex parte Young action, constitutional state sovereign immunity can still bar suit if the requested relief is far reaching and intrusive on core state functions or an impermissible affront to the state's political authority. Elephant Butte, 160 F.3d at 612-13; Coeur d'Alene Tribe, 521 U.S. at 281-83, 117 S.Ct. 2028. Two federal cases have used the special sovereign interests criteria to carve out specific exceptions to the Ex parte Young doctrine. In Coeur d'Alene Tribe, 521 U.S. at 281-83, 287, 117 S.Ct. 2028, the Supreme Court ruled that a state's interest in its submerged lands was a sufficiently special state sovereign interest to bar an Ex parte Young action. In ANR Pipeline Co. v. Lafaver, 150 F.3d 1178, 1194 (10th Cir.1998), the Tenth Circuit found a state's property tax scheme to be a sufficiently special state sovereign interest to bar relief. More recently, the Tenth Circuit has explained that the Coeur d'Alene Tribe and ANR Pipeline reflect extreme and unusual cases in which relief may be denied because of particular and special circumstances that affect special sovereignty interests and cause offense to [the state's] sovereign immunity. J.B. ex rel. Hart v. Valdez, 186 F.3d 1280, 1286-87 (10th Cir.1999). {29} Most Ex parte Young cases do not implicate core state functions, and therefore [t]he interest of vindicating the federal rights and answering the federal questions involved substantially outweigh the state's sovereign interests. Elephant Butte, 160 F.3d at 613. Outside of land use and taxation, numerous cases have employed the Ex parte Young remedy in a variety of contexts, including management of social and educational programs, welfare distribution, management of trust lands, and the re-appropriation of surplus funds. See, e.g., Joseph A. ex rel. Corrine Wolfe v. Ingram, 275 F.3d 1253, 1260-61 (10th Cir.2002) (holding that welfare distribution is not a core sovereign interest comparable to power to tax); Harris v. Owens, 264 F.3d 1282, 1293-94 (10th Cir.2001) (holding that funds requested by plaintiff prior to their entry into the treasury was not the equivalent of an appropriations bill, and [t]he state's interest with respect to these future funds is not related to appropriations but to revenue sources, an interest we have rejected as sufficiently special to serve as an exception to Ex parte Young ); Lewis v. N.M. Dep't of Health, 261 F.3d 970, 978 (10th Cir.2001) (administration of Medicaid program is not core sovereign interest); Ellis v. Univ. of Kan. Med. Ctr., 163 F.3d 1186 (10th Cir.1998) (concluding that a limitation on state medical residency criteria for school admission is not a special sovereignty interest and does not threaten existence of state government); Branson Sch. Dist. RE-82 v. Romer, 161 F.3d 619, 632 (10th Cir.1998) (holding that the state has no special sovereign interests in managing lands held in trust). {30} We are not persuaded that Gill's ADEA claim presents an impermissible affront to New Mexico's special sovereign interests or its political autonomy. We observe that New Mexico created a state remedy for age discrimination through the New Mexico Human Rights Act that affords victims back wages and other monetary relief. See NMSA 1978, §§ 28-1-7(A), -2(A) (1993); Elephant Butte, 160 F.3d at 613. Gill's claim under Ex parte Young, being only for prospective, injunctive relief, may well have a lesser impact upon the state treasury than what the state has already authorized under state law.