James Griffin Lane v. Federico F. Pena, Secretary of Transportation, et al.

Decided June 20, 1996. Sandra Day O'Connor delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 95-365 · 518 U.S. 187 (1996) · Cited 1,626 times

Holding

Congress has not waived the Government’s sovereign immunity against monetary damages awards for § 504(a) violations.

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 7–2.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

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.

• Franklin v. Gwinnett County Public Schools · 503 U.S. 60 (1992)
• Cannon v. University of Chicago · 441 U.S. 677 (1979)
• United States v. Nordic Village, Inc. · 503 U.S. 30 (1992)
• Bell v. Hood · 327 U.S. 678 (1946)
• Irwin v. Department of Veterans Affairs · 498 U.S. 89 (1990)
• Atascadero State Hospital v. Scanlon · 473 U.S. 234 (1985)
• Landgraf v. USI Film Products · 511 U.S. 244 (1994)
• University of Texas v. Camenisch · 451 U.S. 390 (1981)
• Alexander v. Choate · 469 U.S. 287 (1985)
• Lehman v. Nakshian · 453 U.S. 156 (1981)
• Library of Congress v. Shaw · 478 U.S. 310 (1986)
• Guardians Assn. v. Civil Serv. Comm'n of New York City · 463 U.S. 582 (1983)
• United States v. Williams · 514 U.S. 527 (1995)
• United States Department of Transportation v. Paralyzed Veterans of America · 477 U.S. 597 (1986)
• Dooley v. United States · 182 U.S. 222 (1901)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• West v. Gibson · 527 U.S. 212 (1999)
• Federal Aviation Administration v. Cooper · 566 U.S. 284 (2012)
• Dolan v. United States Postal Service · 546 U.S. 481 (2006)
• Department of the Army v. Blue Fox, Inc. · 525 U.S. 255 (1999)
• Gomez-Perez v. Potter · 553 U.S. 474 (2008)
• Orff v. United States · 545 U.S. 596 (2005)
• Department of Agriculture Rural Development Rural Housing Service v. Kirtz · 601 U.S. 42 (2024)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1996). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).