Breyer, J., dissenting
In contrast to a State’s power to assert sovereign immunity in its own courts, sovereignty interests here lie on both sides of the constitutional equation.
The majority also says—also correctly—that the Constitution demanded that States give up certain sovereign rights that they would have retained had they remained independent nations. From there the majority infers that the Constitution must have implicitly given States immunity in each other’s courts to provide protection that they gave up when they entered the Federal Union.
But where the Constitution alters the authority of States vis-à-vis other States, it tends to do so explicitly. The Import–Export Clause cited by the majority, for example, creates “harmony among the States” by preventing them from “burden[ing] commerce… among themselves.” Michelin Tire Corp. v. Wages, 423 U. S. 276, 283, 285 (1976). The Full Faith and Credit Clause, also invoked by the majority, prohibits States from adopting a “policy of hostility to the public Acts” of another State. Franchise Tax Bd. of Cal. v. Hyatt, 578 U. S. ___, ___ (2016) (slip op., at 2). By contrast, the Constitution says nothing explicit about interstate sovereign immunity.
Nor does there seem to be any need to create implicit constitutional protections for States. As the history of this case shows, the Constitution’s express provisions seem adequate to prohibit one State from treating its sister States unfairly—even if the State permits suits against its sister States in its courts. See id., at ___ (slip op., at 4) (holding that the Full Faith and Credit Clause prohibits Nevada from subjecting the Board to greater liability than Nevada would impose upon its own agency in similar circumstances).
The majority may believe that the distinction between permissive and absolute immunity was too nuanced for the Framers. The Framers might have understood that most nations did in fact allow other nations to assert
