[1] In 1972, Congress amended Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964[1] to allow individuals to sue state governments for money damages for discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

The plaintiffs, a group of male retirees, sued the State of Connecticut for sex discrimination against them in its retirement policies.

Can Congress abrogate state sovereign immunity under Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment?

The Court, in an opinion by Justice William Rehnquist, distinguished previous cases in which attempts by individuals to sue the states for money damages (or the equivalent), including Edelman v. Jordan, had failed because the plaintiffs had not identified an express provision by Congress that permitted such lawsuits.

The Court ruled that Congress has the power, under the Fourteenth Amendment, to abrogate sovereign immunity of states, as it was enacted specifically to limit the power of the states with the purpose of enforcing civil rights guarantees against them.