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Article: Federal sovereign immunity and clean water: a Supreme misstep. (Case Note)
- Article from:
- Environmental Law
- Article date:
- January 1, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Lewis & Clark Northwestern School of Law. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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I. INTRODUCTION
The sovereign immunity doctrine has been traced, perhaps incorrectly,(1) to the English concept of royal supremacy: "the king can do no wrong."(2) Despite never having royalty and being skeptical about federal power at its inception, the United States has retained the concept of sovereign immunity throughout its legal history.(3) Although the doctrine has suffered inconsistent and perhaps illogical treatment by the courts,(4) legal sovereign immunity lives on today.
In its 1992 decision, United States Department of Energy v. Ohio(5) (DOE), the Supreme Court denied individual states the power to impose punitive civil fines against the ...