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- Title
A CLASH OF CONSTITUTIONAL COVENANTS: RECONCILING STATE SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY AND JUST COMPENSATION.
- Authors
Grant, Julia
- Abstract
When two bedrock constitutional guarantees come in conflict, which one prevails? This Note explores the clash between state sovereign immunity and the right to just compensation in inverse condemnation actions. When a state physically invades private property without providing remuneration, plaintiffs rightly take to federal court, asserting their entitlement to just compensation. Yet, state sovereign immunity shields the state from liability—permitting a work-around of the Fifth Amendment. Recognizing this conflict, the federal circuit courts have devised a clever, albeit faulty, solution. Relying on a law review article and dicta, the circuit courts have held that state sovereign immunity can bar inverse condemnation suits in federal courts so long as the state courts theoretically remain open to adjudicate the claims. Yet, as this Note will demonstrate, such an approach is unmoored from precedent and practicability. A proper solution is called for. This Note will discuss alternate ways out of the clash and will ultimately recommend a novel approach: private officer suits with a relaxed qualified immunity bar. As real-world people continue to face permanent damage to their property at the hands of the state, while being deprived of a constitutional guarantee to just compensation, this Note seeks to solve a timely and pressing dilemma.
- Subjects
UNITED States; GOVERNMENT liability; JUST compensation (Eminent domain); UNITED States. Constitution. 5th Amendment; QUALIFIED immunity of public officers; LEGAL precedent; FEDERAL courts; CIRCUIT courts
- Publication
Virginia Law Review, 2023, Vol 109, Issue 5, p1143
- ISSN
0042-6601
- Publication type
Article