State of Hawaii v. Gordon, 12
| Citation | 10 L.Ed.2d 191,83 S.Ct. 1052,373 U.S. 57 |
| Decision Date | 29 April 1963 |
| Docket Number | No. 12,12 |
| Parties | STATE OF HAWAII, Plaintiff, v. Kermit GORDON. Original |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Bert T. Kobayashi, Honolulu, Hawaii, and Dennis G. Lyons, Washington, D.C., for plaintiff.
Wayne G. Barnett, Washington, D.C., for defendant.
Section 5(e) of the Hawaii Statehood Act, 73 Stat. 4, 48 U.S.C. (Supp. II, 1960), pp. 1257—1261, provides that within five years from the date Hawaii is admitted to the Union federal agencies having control over land or properties retained by the United States under § 5(c) and (d) of the Act shall report to the President as to the 'continued need for such land or property, and if the President determines that the land or property is no longer needed by the United States it shall be conveyed to the State of Hawaii.' The President designated the Director of the Bureau of the Budget to perform his functions thereunder. The Director thereafter, pursuant to an opinion of the Attorney General, 42 Op.Atty.Gen. (No. 4), concluded, and so advised federal agencies, that the lands referred to in § 5(e) do not include lands obtained by the United States through purchase, condemnation or gift but are limited to lands which at one time belonged to Hawaii and were ceded to the United States or acquired in exchange therefor.
Hawaii filed this original action against the Director, under Art. III, § 2, of the Constitution of the United States, seeking to obtain an order requiring him to withdraw this advice to the federal agencies, determine whether a certain 203 acres of land in Hawaii acquired by the United States through condemnation was land or properties 'needed by the United States' and, if not needed, to convey this land to Hawaii. We have concluded that this is a suit against the United States and, absent its consent, cannot be maintained by the State. The general rule is that relief sought nominally against an officer is in fact against the sovereign if the decree would operate against the latter. E.g., Dugan v. Rank, 372 U.S. 609, 83 S.Ct. 999 (1963); Malone v. Bowdoin, 369 U.S. 643, 82 S.Ct. 980, 8 L.Ed.2d 168 (1962); Larson v. Domestic & Foreign Commerce Corp., 337 U.S. 682, 69 S.Ct. 1457, 93 L.Ed. 1628 (1949). Here the order requested would require the Director's official affirmative action, affect the public administration of government agencies and cause as well the disposition of property admittedly belonging to the United States. The complaint is...
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...in this Court. See Blackmar v. Guerre, supra; McEachern v. United States, 321 F.2d 31 (4th Cir. 1970). Cf. Hawaii v. Gordan, 373 U.S. 57, 83 S.Ct. 1052, 10 L.Ed.2d 191 (1963); Dugan v. Rank, 372 U.S. 609 (1963); Littell v. Morton, 445 F.2d 1207, 1213 (4th Cir. 1971). The only remaining alle......
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South Carolina v. United States, Civil Action No. 1:16–cv–00391–JMC
...capacity "is in fact against the sovereign if the [relief sought] would operate against the latter." Hawaii v. Gordon , 373 U.S. 57, 57, 83 S.Ct. 1052, 10 L.Ed.2d 191 (1963) (per curiam); see id. (explaining that official-capacity suit is against the sovereign if, for example, "the [releif]......
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Federal Sav. and Loan Ins. Corp. v. Williams
...(7th Cir.1982) quoting Land v. Dollar, 330 U.S. 731, 738, 67 S.Ct. 1009, 1012, 91 L.Ed. 1209 (1946). See also Hawaii v. Gordon, 373 U.S. 57, 83 S.Ct. 1052, 10 L.Ed.2d 191 (1963). Where recovery can be had from funds in the possession and control of the agency and not from the United States ......
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Adams v. NaphCare, Inc.
...if the decree would operate against the latter." Pennhurst , 465 U.S. at 101, 104 S.Ct. 900 (quoting Hawaii v. Gordon , 373 U.S. 57, 58, 83 S.Ct. 1052, 10 L.Ed.2d 191 (1963) (internal quotation marks omitted)). In other words, "[w]hen the suit is brought only against state officials, a ques......
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