ADA and the 11th Amendment

[JKSCHW at aol.com]

Some time ago I warned that after S.Ct. used the 11th amendnent to zap the age discrimination law, the ADA was next. Here's from my circuit, the 7th., covering Wisc., Ill. & Ind., opinion by Judge Easterbrook, Judge Diane P. Wood, dissenting.

Summary:

Title I of the ADA does not "enforce" the Fourteenth Amendment, and thus the Eleventh Amendment and associated principles of sovereign immunity block private litigation thereunder against states, and an arm of a state such as a state university, in federal court.  Nonetheless, the ADA is valid legislation, and state universities are bound by it, and it may be enforced against state universities in state (not federal courts) courts or by the United States in federal courts.

 Erickson v. B. of Govs. of North Ill. Univ., No. 98-3614, 2000 WL 307121 (7th Cir., Mar. 27, 2000)

--jks