Sovereign Immunity

So... the Eleventh Amendment (sovereign immunity) was ratified specifically to overrule the Supreme court's holding in Chisholm v. Georgia (1793) 2 U.S. 419. More precisely it was ratified to prevent citizens and foreign governments from collecting on Revolutionary War debts. Alexander Chisholm sued the state of Georgia as the executor of the estate of one Robert Farquhar, a South Carolinian who had supplied materials to Georgia during the war. Although the Georgia legislature appropriated funds for this debt, the commissaries refused to pay. Farquhar died and Chisholm sued Georgia to recover the money owed. The Court ruled 4-1 in favor of Chisholm citing the unmistakable language of Article III which authorized suits against a state by citizens of another state. Georgia immediately adopted a statute declaring anyone attempting to enforce the Court's decision would be guilty of a felony punishable by death. A mere 3 weeks after the Court's decision in Chisholm both houses of Congress had approved the Eleventh Amendment.

The point of this story... Don't mess with a Farquhar? If you're going to mess with a Farquhar you'd best be packing a Constitutional Amendment?

-Zefferia T. Farquahar III