Florida Prepaid v. College Savings Bank

Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Education Expense Board v. College Savings Bank (1999) is a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case dealing with the ability of Congress to abrogate sovereign immunity for claims involving intellectual property.

The Eleventh Amendment confirms that the states retain sovereign immunity from lawsuits. However, this immunity is not absolute. Congress, in exercising its powers to enforce the Fourteenth Amendment, may abrogate the states' immunity. Moreover, states may voluntarily waive their immunity. Finally, when there are ongoing violations of federal law, the doctrine established in the landmark case Ex Parte Young (1908) generally allows federal courts to enjoin state officials from engaging in unlawful behavior. Florida Prepaid involved the abrogation exception to sovereign immunity. The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Florida Prepaid established that Congress ...