Note: Where it is feasible, a syllabus (headnote) will be released, as is being done in connection with this case, at the time the opinion is issued. The syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of the Court but has been prepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader. See United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co., 200 U. S. 321, 337.
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
Syllabus
FINANCIAL OVERSIGHT AND MANAGEMENT BOARD FOR PUERTO RICO v. CENTRO DE PERIODISMO INVESTIGATIVO, INC.
CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT
No. 22–96. Argued January 11, 2023—Decided May 11, 2023
Held: Nothing in PROMESA—including its jurisdictional provision, Section 2126(a)—categorically abrogates any sovereign immunity the Board enjoys from legal claims. This Court assumes without deciding that Puerto Rico is immune from suit in United States district court, and that the Board partakes of that immunity. See Cutter v. Wilkinson, 544 U. S. 709, 718, n. 7.
This Court has often held that Congress must make its intent to abrogate sovereign immunity “unmistakably clear in the language of the statute.” Kimel v. Florida Bd. of Regents, 528 U. S. 62, 73. The Court has applied that clear-statement rule in cases naming the federal government, States, and Indian tribes as defendants. And it has found that standard met in only two situations: when a statute says, in so many words, that it is stripping immunity from a sovereign entity, e.g., 35 U. S. C. §296(a), and when a statute creates a cause of action and authorizes suit against a government on that claim, see, e.g., Kimel, 528 U. S., at 73–74. PROMESA fits neither of these molds. Except by reference to the Bankruptcy Code in Title III debt-restructuring proceedings, see 11 U. S. C. §106(a); 48 U. S. C. §2161(a), PROMESA does not provide that the Board or Puerto Rico is subject to suit. Nor does PROMESA create any cause of action for use against the Board or Puerto Rico. Thus, Congress has not, through a means this Court has recognized, “ma[de] its intention” to abrogate immunity “unmistakably clear.” Kimel, 528 U. S., at 73.
In short, nothing in PROMESA makes Congress’s intent to abrogate the Board’s sovereign immunity unmistakably clear. The statute does not explicitly strip the Board of immunity or expressly authorize the bringing of claims against the Board. And its judicial review provisions and liability protections are compatible with the Board’s generally retaining sovereign immunity. Pp. 5–11.
35 F. 4th 1, reversed and remanded.
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