The Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College v. Stephen M. Gruver, et al.

Can Congress, in the exercise of Article I Spending Power, unilaterally expand federal judicial power for private civil damages actions asserted against the states by requiring states to waive Eleventh Amendment immunity to suit in federal court as a condition tethered to the receipt of federal funds accepted and used by the states to assist in providing public education to the citizens?

In the Civil Rights Remedies Equalization Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2000d-7, Congress conditioned LSU’s receipt of federal funds and required LSU to waive Eleventh Amendment immunity to private actions brought under Title IX as Article I Spending Power legislation. This condition was imposed over 100 years after LSU, an arm of Louisiana, commenced receiving federal resources to assist, in part, academic research and higher education of students without any adverse impact on Louisiana’s sovereignty and fourteen years after Title IX was enacted without any adverse impact on Louisiana’s sovereignty. Did Congress exceed its Article I Spending Powers by conditioning continued receipt of federal educational funds on LSU’s waiver of Eleventh Amendment sovereign immunity?