Constitutional Law—Seventh Circuit Applies Ex parte Young Doctrine to Allow State Agency’s Action Against State Officials-Indiana Protection and Advocacy Services v. Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, 603 F.3d 365 (7th Cir. 2010)

Article VI of the Constitution establishes the supremacy of federal law over the states, while the Eleventh Amendment grants the states immunity from suit without their consent.  The incompatibility of these provisions becomes apparent, however, when a defendant state asserts its immunity in response to an attempt to enforce a valid federal law in federal court.  This constitutional contradiction recently divided two circuit courts ruling on suits brought under the same state-managed federal program: the Fourth Circuit held the Eleventh Amendment barred a state agency from enforcing the program’s requirements against state officials in federal court, while the Seventh Circuit held the amendment posed no bar.  This Case Comment analyzes the Seventh Circuit’s decision in Indiana Protection & Advocacy Services v. Indiana Family &  Social Services Administration and concludes that the court was correct in holding an independent state agency’s suit against named state officials can be heard in federal court under the Supreme Court’s Eleventh Amendment exception, the doctrine of Ex parte Young. . .