“Did Congress have power under § 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment to abrogate the states’ Eleventh Amendment immunity and make them amenable to suit in federal court for claims of patent infringement when enacting Section 2 of the Patent and Plant Variety Protection Remedy Clarification Act, Pub. L. No. 102-560, 106 Stat. 4230 (1992), 35 U.S.C. §§ 271(h), 296(a)?”
“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.”
