Tennessee Student Assistant Corp. v. Hood
Hood filed under the Bankruptcy Code for a discharge of her student loans from the Tennessee Student Assistant Corporation (TSAC). TSAC is a Tennessee governmental corporation that administers student loans. TSAC moved to dismiss the suit on grounds of sovereign immunity, the Eleventh Amendment principle that an individual cannot sue a state government. In enacting the Bankruptcy Code, Congress explicitly waived the states' sovereign immunity in bankruptcy suits. However, TSAC argued that Congress did not have authority under the Bankruptcy Clause of the U.S. Constitution to abrogate state sovereign immunity. The Bankruptcy Clause gives Congress the power to establish uniform bankruptcy laws. The bankruptcy court declined to dismiss the suit, and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, finding that with the enactment of the Bankruptcy Clause, the states granted Congress the power to abrogate their sovereign immunity.
Question Presented:
Whether Congress has the authority to abrogate state sovereign immunity under the Bankruptcy Clause of Article I, U.S. Const., art. I, ? 8, cl 4.
