Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Education Expense Board v. College Savings Bank and United States (527 U.S. 627)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 23, 1999 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 527 U.S. 627 · 119 S. Ct. 2199
- Decided
- June 23, 1999
- Term
- October Term 1998
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Rehnquist
- Issue area
- Federalism
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
- Constitutional ruling
- Federal law held unconstitutional
Opinion excerpt
Chief Justice Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court. In 1992, Congress amended the patent laws and expressly abrogated the States’ sovereign immunity from claims of patent infringement. Respondent College Savings then sued the State of Florida for patent infringement, and the Court of Appeals held that Congress had validly abrogated the State’s sovereign immunity from infringement suits pursuant to its authority under § 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment. We hold that, under City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U. S. 507 (1997), the statute cannot be sustained as legislation enacted to enforce the guarantees of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, and accordingly reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals. I Since 1987, respondent College Savings Bank, a New Jersey chartered savings bank located in Princeton, New Jersey, has marketed and sold certificates of deposit known as the CollegeSure CD, which are essentially annuity contracts for financing future college expenses. College Savings obtained a patent for its financing methodology, designed to guarantee investors sufficient funds to cover the costs of tuition for colleges. Petitioner Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Education Expense Board (Florida Prepaid) is an entity created by the State of Florida that administers similar tuition prepayment contracts available to Florida residents and their children. See Fla.…
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