Opinion ID: 2634607
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Ex parte Young Applies in State Court

Text: {24} DiFava and Garrett applied Ex parte Young in federal court, not state court. Alden confirms that Ex parte Young also applies in state courts. In restating that Ex parte Young applies in state courts, an idea first articulated nearly 100 years ago in General Oil Co. v. Crain, 209 U.S. 211, 28 S.Ct. 475, 52 L.Ed. 754 (1908), the Alden Court described the importance of maintaining the Ex parte Young doctrine: In particular, the exception to our sovereign immunity doctrine recognized in Ex parte Young is based in part on the premise that sovereign immunity bars relief against States and their officers in both state and federal courts, and that certain suits for declaratory or injunctive relief against state officers must therefore be permitted if the Constitution is to remain the supreme law of the land. Alden, 527 U.S. at 747, 119 S.Ct. 2240 (emphasis added). Alden goes on to state, [h]ad we not understood the States to retain a constitutional immunity from suit in their own courts, the need for the Ex parte Young rule would have been less pressing, and the rule would not have formed so essential a part of our sovereign immunity doctrine. Id. at 748, 119 S.Ct. 2240 (citing Coeur d'Alene, 521 U.S. at 270-71, 117 S.Ct. 2028). {25} Limited exceptions to sovereign immunity are needed to maintain pathways for individuals who have suffered damages due to violations of federal law by state officials. The use of the Ex parte Young fiction is an attempt to strike a balance between respect for the dignity and autonomy of the state, and the need to maintain the supremacy of federal law. Encroachment into state autonomy is minimized, while valid federal law maintains a meaningful presence within state government. Several post- Alden state cases confirm that Ex parte Young is available in state court as an exception to sovereign immunity. See Middleton v. Hartman, 45 P.3d 721, 727 (Colo.2002) (citing Ex parte Young as one of six exceptions to the doctrine of sovereign immunity, the court held that because the state would not be liable for damages, except for those damages it had voluntarily assumed, a suit for prospective injunctive relief was not barred by constitutional sovereign immunity); Purvis v. Williams, 276 Kan. 182, 73 P.3d 740, 749 (2003) (stating that an Ex parte Young suit for prospective injunctive relief is one of three ways state immunity may be relinquished in Kansas); see also Connelly v. State Highway Patrol, 271 Kan. 944, 26 P.3d 1246, 1259 (2001); Prager v. State Dep't of Revenue, 271 Kan. 1, 20 P.3d 39, 55 (2001); Brown v. Div. of Motor Vehicles, 155 N.C.App. 436, 573 S.E.2d 246 (2002) (acknowledging the availability of an Ex parte Young action brought under the ADA in state court). {26} We hold that the Ex parte Young doctrine does apply to suits brought in New Mexico state courts to enforce rights validly created under federal law. We now turn to the procedural requirements of this doctrine: (1) the plaintiff must allege an ongoing violation of federal law; (2) the suit must not implicate special state sovereignty interests; (3) the relief sought must be prospective and injunctive; (4) the suit must be directed at officers of the state, and not the state itself.