Opinion ID: 163442
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Oklahoma's Eleventh Amendment Immunity

Text: 26 The second claim in the plaintiff's complaint is that H.B. 2259, which authorized the state to issue bonds for certain highway projects, violates his rights under the Oklahoma Constitution to vote on the state's issuance of debt. We review de novo a district court's dismissal of a complaint on the ground that a state has Eleventh Amendment immunity, Harris v. Owens, 264 F.3d 1282, 1287 (10th Cir.2001), and we conclude that the Eleventh Amendment precludes the plaintiff's claim from being heard in federal court. 27 The Eleventh Amendment renders a state immune from suits brought in federal courts by her own citizens as well as by citizens of another State. Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U.S. 651, 662-63, 94 S.Ct. 1347, 39 L.Ed.2d 662 (1974). In the instant case, the plaintiff has directly sued the state and its agencies seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, and Eleventh Amendment immunity squarely applies in these circumstances. As the district court correctly observed: 28 [T]here is no doubt that the Eleventh Amendment applies. Plaintiff's action is not saved by the fact that he seeks only declaratory and injunctive relief against the state defendants. The Eleventh Amendment expressly applies to suits seeking injunctive and declaratory relief. See Cory v. White, 457 U.S. 85, 90-91, 102 S.Ct. 2325, 72 L.Ed.2d 694 (1982). Nor can plaintiff's case against the state defendants be maintained pursuant to the exception recognized in Ex parte Young, 209 U.S. 123, 28 S.Ct. 441, 52 L.Ed. 714 (1908), as that exception has no application in suits against the States and their agencies, which are barred regardless of the relief sought. Puerto Rico Aqueduct v. Metcalf & Eddy, Inc., 506 U.S. 139, 146, 113 S.Ct. 684, 121 L.Ed.2d 605 (1993). Finally, the record reveals no voluntary action by the state defendants that would constitute waiver of its [sic] Eleventh Amendment immunity. See Lapides v. Board of Regents of University System of Georgia, 535 U.S. 613, 122 S.Ct. 1640, 1643-45, 152 L.Ed.2d 806 (2002). 29 Order of June 5, 2002, at 7. The plaintiff's suit against Oklahoma and its agencies, therefore, cannot be maintained in federal court.