Page:Alabama v. North Carolina, 560 U.S. (2010) slip opinion.pdf/4

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22.

(b) Under Arizona v. California, 460 U. S. 605, 614, the Commission’s claims are not barred by sovereign immunity so long as the Commission asserts the same claims and seeks the same relief as the plaintiff States. Nothing in the Court’s subsequent cases suggests that Arizona v. California has been implicitly overruled, and North Carolina does not ask the Court to overrule that decision. At least with respect to Counts I and II, the Commission’s claims under those Compact-related Counts are wholly derivative of the plaintiff States’ claims. The summary judgment disallowing the claims in Counts I and II on their merits renders the sovereign immunity question with regard to any relief the Commission alone might have on those claims moot. Counts III–V are on a different footing. The Special Master concluded that further factual and legal development was necessary to determine whether the Commission’s claims under these Counts were identical to those of the plaintiff States. The Special Master’s case-management decision was reasonable. Pp. 22–26.

Exceptions to Special Master’s Reports overruled, and Master’s recommendations adopted; North Carolina’s motions to dismiss Count I and for summary judgment on Count II granted; Plaintiffs’ motions for judgment on Counts I and II denied; and North Carolina’s motions to dismiss the Commission’s claims on sovereign immunity grounds and for summary judgment on Counts III–V denied without prejudice.

SCALIA, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which STEVENS, GINSBURG, and ALITO, JJ., joined, in which ROBERTS, C. J., joined in all but Parts II–D and III–B, in which KENNEDY and SOTOMAYOR, JJ., joined in all but Part II–E, in which THOMAS, J., joined in all but Part III–B, and in which BREYER, J., joined in all but Parts II–C, II–D, and II–E. KENNEDY, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment, in which SOTOMAYOR, J., joined. ROBERTS, C. J., filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, in which THOMAS, J., joined. BREYER, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, in which ROBERTS, C. J., joined.