Truitt v. State of Illinois, 12981.
| Decision Date | 01 June 1960 |
| Docket Number | No. 12981.,12981. |
| Citation | 278 F.2d 819 |
| Parties | Bennie TRUITT, Appellant, v. STATE OF ILLINOIS, Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Bennie Truitt, Madison, Ill., for appellant.
Grenville Beardsley, Atty. Gen., William C. Wines, Asst. Atty. Gen., Chicago, Ill., Raymond S. Sarnow, A. Zola Groves, Edward M. White, Asst. Attys. Gen., of counsel, for appellee.
Before HASTINGS, Chief Judge, and DUFFY and MAJOR, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiff filed this suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, naming the State of Illinois as "respondent" and seeking damages in the sum of $790,000. Plaintiff appeared pro se, and apparently prepared his pleadings without legal assistance. Because plaintiff was unable to be personally present at the oral argument before this Court, we entered an order that the case would be submitted upon the briefs without oral argument.
The basis of plaintiff's claim for damages is that a state judge unlawfully convicted him of the crime of murder. He claims he was tried behind closed doors without the assistance of counsel, and was convicted upon false and insufficient evidence. This appeal is from an order of the District Court dismissing the suit for lack of jurisdiction.
The Constitution of the United States denies to federal courts jurisdiction of suits against states by certain classes of plaintiffs. Thus, the Eleventh Amendment provides:
"The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State." A literal reading of this Amendment would seem to indicate that the federal courts can exercise jurisdiction over a suit against a state if the plaintiff is a citizen of the defendant state, which is the situation in the case at bar. However, the Supreme Court of the United States has held that, even though plaintiff is a citizen of the defendant state, federal courts are without jurisdiction unless the State consents to be sued. Fitts v. McGhee, 172 U.S. 516, 19 S.Ct. 269, 43 L.Ed. 535; Hans v. State of Louisiana, 134 U.S. 1, 10 S.Ct. 504, 33 L.Ed. 842; State of North Carolina v. Temple, 134 U.S. 22, 10 S.Ct. 509, 33 L.Ed. 849.
In the case at bar, the State of Illinois did not consent to be sued. Moreover, it could not consent as Article IV, § 26, of the Constitution of Illinois, S.H. A., provides: "The state of...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Whirl v. Kern
...129, 133-134; Delatte v. Genovese, E.D. La., 1967, 273 F.Supp. 654, 658. 5 Stift v. Lynch, 7 Cir. 1959, 267 F.2d 237; Truitt v. State of Illinois, 7 Cir. 1960, 278 F.2d 819, cert. denied, 364 U.S. 866, 81 S.Ct. 109, 5 L.Ed.2d 6 See cases discussed in Striker v. Pancher, 6 Cir. 1963, 317 F.2......
-
Bradford v. Lefkowitz
...policy of discrimination against a class or group of citizens. See Stift v. Lynch, 267 F.2d 237 (7th Cir. 1959); Truitt v. State of Illinois, 278 F.2d 819 (7th Cir. 1960), cert. denied, 364 U.S. 866, 81 S.Ct. 109, 5 L.Ed.2d Neither the Fourteenth Amendment nor the Civil Rights Act purports ......
-
Swanson v. McGuire
...before us necessarily follows. Plaintiffs are not without their remedy in the state court." Finally, on June 1, 1960, in Truitt v. Illinois, 7 Cir., 278 F.2d 819, the Court at page 820 further explained its interpretation of the Civil Rights "It might be argued that this case arises under t......
-
Roberts v. Barbosa
...the conduct alleged was in pursuance of a systematic policy of discrimination against a class or group of persons. Truitt v. State of Illinois (7th-1960) 278 F.2d 819, Cert. den. 364 U.S. 866, 81 S.Ct. 109, 5 L.Ed.2d 88; Agnew v. City of Compton, supra. There are no such allegations In Well......