Indian Law – Sovereign Immunity

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US Supreme Court

Case Name: Lewis v. Clarke

Case No.: 15-1500

Focus: Indian Law – Sovereign Immunity

In a suit brought against a tribal employee in his individual capacity, the employee, not the tribe, is the real party in interest and the tribe’s sovereign immunity is not implicated

“In the context of lawsuits against state and federal employees or entities, courts look to whether the sovereign is the real party in interest to determine whether sovereign immunity bars the suit, see Hafer v. Melo, 502 U. S. 21, 25. A defendant in an officialcapacity action—where the relief sought is only nominally against the official and in fact is against the official’s office and thus the sovereign itself—may assert sovereign immunity. Kentucky v. Graham, 473 U. S. 159, 167. But an officer in an individual-capacity action which seeks “to impose individual liability upon a government officer for actions taken under color of state law,” Hafer, 502 U. S., at 25— may be able to assert personal immunity defenses but not sovereign immunity, id., at 30–31. The Court does not reach Clarke’s argument that he is entitled to the personal immunity defense of official immunity, which Clarke raised for the first time on appeal.

Concur: Thomas, Ginsburg

Dissent:

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