Allen v. Cooper

Decided March 23, 2020. Elena Kagan delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 18-877 · 589 U.S. 248 (2020) · Cited 126 times

Holding

Congress lacked authority to abrogate the States’ sovereign immunity from copyright infringement suits in the Copyright Remedy Clarification Act of 1990.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court. Read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. The lineup is the syllabus’s disposition of who wrote and joined each opinion. Source: the opinion’s syllabus (supremecourt.gov).

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Education Expense Board v. College Savings Bank · 527 U.S. 627 (1999)
• Central Virginia Community College v. Katz · 546 U.S. 356 (2006)
• Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida · 517 U.S. 44 (1996)
• City of Boerne v. Flores · 521 U.S. 507 (1997)
• Kimel v. Florida Board of Regents · 528 U.S. 62 (2000)
• Fox Film Corp. v. Doyal · 286 U.S. 123 (1932)
• Daniels v. Williams · 474 U.S. 327 (1986)
• Fitzpatrick v. Bitzer · 427 U.S. 445 (1976)
• Blatchford v. Native Village of Noatak · 501 U.S. 775 (1991)
• Gamble v. United States · 587 U.S. 678 (2019)
• Hudson v. Palmer · 468 U.S. 517 (1984)
• College Savings Bank v. Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Education Expense Board · 527 U.S. 666 (1999)
• United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co. · 200 U.S. 321 (1906)
• Michigan v. Bay Mills Indian Community · 572 U.S. 782 (2014)
• Federal Maritime Commission v. South Carolina State Ports Authority · 535 U.S. 743 (2002)
• Dellmuth v. Muth · 491 U.S. 223 (1989)
• Goldstein v. California · 412 U.S. 546 (1973)
• Kimble v. Marvel Entertainment, LLC · 576 U.S. 466 (2015)
• Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck · 587 U.S. 802 (2019)
• Franchise Tax Bd. of Cal. v. Hyatt · 587 U.S. 230 (2019)
• Consolidated Fruit-Jar Co. v. Wright · 94 U.S. 92 (1877)

Official text

Read the official opinion (PDF, supremecourt.gov)

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Elena Kagan’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2020). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-08-15. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).