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Federalism Institute of Bill of Rights Law at the William & Mary Law School College of William & Mary Law School William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository Supreme Court Preview Conferences, Events, and Lectures 2000 Section 7: Federalism Institute of Bill of Rights Law at the William & Mary Law School Repository Citation Institute of Bill of Rights Law at the William & Mary Law School, "Section 7: Federalism" (2000). Supreme Court Preview. 89. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/preview/89 Copyright c 2000 by the authors. This article is brought to you by the William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/preview FEDERALISM In This Section: + LAST TERM: Kimel v. FloridaBoard of Regents et al, Nos. 98-791, 98-796 Court Shields States in Suits on Age Bias David G. Savage ......................................................... 345 Court Curbs Suit by State Workers,; Continuinga Pattern, 5-4 Ruling Bars Claims ofAge Bias Under FederalLaw Joan Biskupic ........................................................... 348 + LAST TERM: Reno et al v. Condon et al, No. 98-1464 Justices Uphold Ban on States' Sales of Drivers' License Information Linda Greenhouse ....................................................... 350 Court Backs Privagfor Data on Drivers Joan Biskupic ....................................................................................... 352 * LAST TERM: United States v. Morrison et al and Brzonkala v. Mornison et al, Nos. 99-5 and 99-29 Women Can't Sue Rapists, Court Says; Justices Strike Down Key Part of Violence Against Women Act Lyle Denniston ......................................................... 354 High Court Rejects U.S. Law Allowing Civil Suits in Rapes; Ruling:Justices Decide, 5 to 4, That Congress Overstepped Its Authority in Allowing Victims to Sue. Action Appears to Doom Other FederalHate-Crime Statutes. David G. Savage ......................................................... 357 * NEW CASE: University ofAlabama at Birmingham Board of Trustees v. Garret, No. 99-1240 NARRATIVE SUMMARY, Is the Writing on the Wall? The ADA Could be Next in the Supreme Court'sMarch Against Congress M eredith L ugo ....................................................................................... 360 Synopsis and Question Presented ............................................ 362 343 Garrett v. University ofAlabama at Birmingham Board of Trustees, 193 F.3d 1214 (11' Cir)........................................ 363 Court to Clarij DisabilitiesAct Richard Carelli ........................................................... 366 Justices to Act in Dispute over States Rights P atti W aldm eir ...................................................................................... 368 Supreme Court to Decide whether Public Colleges May be Sued Under DisabilitiesLaw Peter Schmidt ........................................................... 370 NEW CASE: Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,No. 99-1178 NARRATIVE SUMMARY, Is it a Waste of Time to Mess uith the Government? David P. Primack ........................................................ 372 Synopsis and Question Presented ............................................ 374 Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 191 F.3d 845 (7 Cir.) .............................. 375 The Court'sNext Chapter THE WASHINGTON POST ..................................................................... 381 Court Studies Corps' Review Susann a D u ff .... ................................................................................... 383 High Court to Hear Case on Landfill in Bartlett M att A rad o ........................................................................................... 385 344 Last Term: J. Daniel KIMEL, Jr., et al., Petitioners V. FLORIDA BOARD OF REGENTS et al United States, petitioner V. Florida Board of Regents et al. Nos. 98-791, 98-796 Supreme Court of the United States Decided January 11, 2000 COURT SHIELDS STATES IN SUITS ON AGE BIAS Los Angeles Times Wednesday, January12, 2000 David G. Savage The Supreme Court on Tuesday stripped "Congress exceeded its authority," Justice the nation's 5 million state workers--as well as Sandra Day O'Connor said, when in 1974 it California's teachers and public school gave state workers the same rights as private employees--of federal protection against age sector employees to sue for damages if they are discrimination. victims of age discrimination. States, she said, have a "sovereign immunity" that shields them On a 5-4 vote, the court ruled that state from such private lawsuits. agencies, including public colleges, are shielded from lawsuits filed by their workers under the In California, public school districts are Age Discrimination in Employment Act. treated as state agencies and, therefore, will have the same legal immunity from age bias The decision throws out claims of age bias suits. in three lawsuits: one from professors and librarians at Florida State University, a second "This is a terrible decision," said Michael from a Florida prison guard and a third from Simpson, assistant general counsel for the two instructors at an Alabama state college. National Education Assn., which represented the Florida professors. "It turns the clock back Once again, the court's conservative on civil rights and makes state workers into majority showed itself determined to limit the second-class citizens." power of the national government and to champion the states as independent sovereigns. Still, because California and other states have strong laws against job discrimination, 345 some experts predicted that the effect on their the workplace, the schools and the teachers and others workers may be minimal. environment. "California is out ahead of the states and Rehnquist, joined by the four other the federal government on the protection of conservative justices, has consciously tried to employees' rights," said Los Angeles lawyer move the law back to an earlier era. Arthur F. Silbergeld. Legal scholars differ on whether the recent But not all states extend such protections, rulings of the Rehnquist court are a necessary said Laurie McCann, an AARP lawyer. "Ifyou corrective or a reactionary retrenchment. are in California, you are probably in good Pepperdine University law professor shape. If you are a state trooper in Alabama, Douglas W. Kmiec defends the court for trying you are not." to preserve the balance set in the original Unquestionably, the driving theme of the Constitution. court under Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist "These decisions are healthy for the has become states' rights. In three rulings last democratic process. They reflect a trust in local having to June, the court shielded states from governments and states to resolve their own pay overtime to their workers and blocked problems in their own ways," said Kmiec, a claims against state agencies for infringing former Reagan administration attorney. "Where patents and trademarks. is it written that these questions have to be Tuesday's opinion marked the first time the elevated to the federal level?" Rehnquist majority has directly limited USC law professor Erwin Chemerinsky, a Congress' power to remedy discrimination. sharp critic of the trend, responded by saying Also vulnerable now are the federal laws that civil rights is a national issue, not a local that protect state workers with disabilities and one. mandate a period of leave for workers with a "I thought it had been accepted over the medical or family crisis. Even Title IX, the last 40 years that the federal government has a landmark federal law that requires equal special role in stopping discrimination," he said. funding for women's sports, could be "This decision marks the first time they have challenged as exceeding Congress' power, some limited the ability to sue states for experts said. discrimination." From the nation's beginning, the balance of Lawyers for the Florida and Alabama power between the states and the national professors argued that the 14th Amendment government has been a recurring dispute. gives Congress the power to enforce the age- Until the 1930s, Washington's power was discrimination law against the states. Added seen as under strict limits. For example, areas after the Civil War, the amendment says that such as crime, education and private business states may not deny persons the "equal were thought to be off-limits to federal protection of the laws." Its last section says that authorities. Even when notorious criminals Congress "shall have the power to enforce by were on the loose, the FBI shied away until the appropriate legislation" this mandate of suspects had crossed state lines. equality. But the New Deal era greatly expanded the But the Supreme Court concluded Tuesday reach of federal control over the economy. In that an attack on age discrimination is not recent decades, federal authority has spread to appropriate. "States may discriminate on the all aspects of American life, such as regulating 346 basis of age," O'Connor said, unlike race and A test case soon arose when a Virginia gender discrimination, which are forbidden. Tech freshman, Christy Brzonkala, said that she was raped in a dormitory room by Antonio Her opinion (Kimel vs. Florida, 98-791) Morrison, a star linebacker. When the university was joined by Rehnquist and Justices Antonin reinstated Morrison to play football, despite her Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy and Clarence complaint, she sued him. Thomas. The four dissenters lambasted the majority for "judicial activism" of the right.
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