Page:Alabama v. North Carolina, 560 U.S. (2010) slip opinion.pdf/37

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Nor may the Court entertain private claims without “compromis[ing]” “the States’ sovereign immunity.” Arizona, 460 U. S., at 614. As a party, the Commission enjoys legally enforceable rights against the defendant State: It may object to settlement, seek taxation of costs, advance arguments we are obliged to consider, and plead the judgment as res judicata in future litigation. If the Commission truly sought nothing for itself—other than “a full exposition of the issues,” Preliminary Report of the Special Master 14—it could have participated as an amicus.

The Commission and North Carolina know that more is at stake if the Commission is allowed to sue the State. It is precisely the Commission’s status as a party, its attempt to “prosecut[e]” a “suit in law or equity. . . against one of the United States,” U. S. Const., Amdt. 11, that sovereign immunity forbids.

I would sustain North Carolina’s first exception to the Special Master’s reports.