TENNESSEE v. LANE
Opinion of the Court
The first question is easily answered in this case. The Act
specifically provides: "A State shall not be immune under the
eleventh amendment to the Constitution of the United States
from an action in Federal or State court of competent jurisdiction for a violation of this chapter." 42 U. S. C. § 12202.
As in Garrett, see 531 U. S., at 363-364, no party disputes
the adequacy of that expression of Congress' intent to abrogate the States' Eleventh Amendment immunity. The question, then, is whether Congress had the power to give effect
to its intent.
In Fitzpatrick v. Bitzer, 427 U. S. 445 (1976), we held that
Congress can abrogate a State's sovereign immunity when it
does so pursuant to a valid exercise of its power under § 5 of
the Fourteenth Amendment to enforce the substantive guarantees of that Amendment. Id., at 456. This enforcement
power, as we have often acknowledged, is a "broad power
indeed." Mississippi Univ. for Women v. Hogan, 458 U. S.
718, 732 (1982), citing Ex parte Virginia, 100 U. S. 339, 346
(1880). 3 It includes "the authority both to remedy and to
deter violation of rights guaranteed [by the Fourteenth
Amendment] by prohibiting a somewhat broader swath of
conduct, including that which is not itself forbidden by the
Amendment's text." Kimel, 528 U. S., at 81. We have thus
repeatedly affirmed that "Congress may enact so-called prophylactic legislation that proscribes facially constitutional
conduct, in order to prevent and deter unconstitutional conduct." Nevada Dept. of Human Resources v. Hibbs, 538
U. S. 721, 727-728 (2003). See also City of Boerne v. Flores,
' In Ex parte Virginia,we described the breadth of Congress' §5 power
as follows:
"Whatever legislation is appropriate, that is, adapted to carry out the
objects the amendments have in view, whatever tends to enforce submission to the prohibitions they contain, and to secure to all persons the enjoyment of perfect equality of civil rights and the equal protection of the
laws against State denial or invasion, if not prohibited, is brought within
the domain of congressional power." 100 U. S., at 345-346. See also City
of Boerne v. Flores,521 U. S. 507, 517-518 (1997).