Galette v. New Jersey Transit Corp. · ¶23

Sovereign immunity, however, is “ `personal' ” to the State itself. College Savings Bank v. Florida Prepaid Postsec ondary Ed. Expense Bd., 527 U. S. 666, 675 (1999). It does not extend to “lesser entities,” such as “municipal corpora- tion[s] or other governmental entit[ies]” that are not “arm[s] of the State.” Alden, 527 U. S., at 756. Whether an entity is “an arm of the State . . . is a question of federal law” that “can be answered only after considering the provisions of state law that define the agency's character.” Regents of Univ. of Cal. v. Doe, 519 U. S. 425, 429, n. 5 (1997). Before addressing whether NJ Transit is an arm of New Jersey, the Court first sets forth the principles that have guided the arm-of-the-State inquiry in its precedents.

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