Nevada Department of Human
Resources v. Hibbs
538
Facts: Hibbs sued the Nevada
Department of Human Resources, alleging that they violated the Family and
Medical Leave Act. The federal district
court awarded summary judgment to the Department, saying that the claim was
barred by the Eleventh Amendment and not allowed by the Fourteenth Amendment. The federal government intervened to defend
the constitutionality of the statute, and the Ninth Circuit reversed. The Department appealed to the Supreme Court.
Issue: Can Congress constitutionally
authorize individuals to sue states underIs the FMLA a constitutional use of congressional
power under the Eleventh Amendment and § 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment?
Rule: Congress may enact remedial
legislation when it is “congruent and proportional” to the constitutional
violation it is attempting to remedy.
Analysis: The Court seems to say that
Congress effectively has more power to remedy forms of discrimination that the Court
would give heightened scrutiny than those forms of discrimination that the
Court would give less scrutiny. This is
how they distinguish the present case from City
of
Three
justices concur, stating that they would find the FMLA constitutional under § 5
of the Fourteenth Amendment without regard to the Eleventh Amendment. They would basically give Congress more
deference.
Stevens
writes a separate concurrence and says that on the face of the text of the Eleventh
Amendment, states are only immune from suit by citizens of other states, not citizens of their own state. Stevens feels that making the state immune
from suit by its own citizens is kind
of a “common law” addition that Congress has the power to abrogate by legislation.
Scalia’s
separate dissent claims that Congress can only enact remedial legn[ under the Fourteenth
Amendment if all of the affected
states are constitutional violators.
Kennedy,
along with Scalia and Thomas, argue in dissent that not enough evidence has
been presented to show that the states are all serious enough violators to
justify Congress being allowed to abrogate the states’ Eleventh Amendment
immunity from suit.
Conclusion: The Ninth Circuit is affirmed
and the statute is allowed to stand.