Will v. Michigan Department of State Police, 491 U.S. 58 (1989)
E403306
Will v. Michigan Department of State Police, 491 U.S. 58 (1989), is a U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that neither a State nor its officials acting in their official capacities are “persons” subject to damages liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Will v. Michigan Department of State Police, 491 U.S. 58 (1989) canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T3981300 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
Target entity: Will v. Michigan Department of State Police, 491 U.S. 58 (1989) Context triple: [42 U.S.C. § 1983, interpretedBy, Will v. Michigan Department of State Police, 491 U.S. 58 (1989)]
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A.
Michigan v. Tucker
Michigan v. Tucker is a 1974 U.S. Supreme Court decision that limited the exclusionary rule’s application to statements obtained without full Miranda warnings, holding that derivative evidence from such statements could still be admissible.
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B.
Maryland v. Wirtz
Maryland v. Wirtz was a 1968 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld the extension of federal minimum wage and overtime provisions to employees of state-operated schools and hospitals under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
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C.
South Dakota v. Dole
South Dakota v. Dole is a 1987 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld Congress’s power to condition federal highway funds on states adopting a minimum drinking age of 21, helping define the scope of the federal spending power.
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D.
Near v. Minnesota
Near v. Minnesota is a landmark 1931 U.S. Supreme Court decision that applied First Amendment free press protections to the states and established a strong presumption against prior restraint by government.
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E.
Brandenburg v. Ohio
Brandenburg v. Ohio is a 1969 U.S. Supreme Court decision that significantly strengthened free speech protections by establishing the "imminent lawless action" test for when advocacy of violence can be punished under the First Amendment.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
Target entity: Will v. Michigan Department of State Police, 491 U.S. 58 (1989) Target entity description: Will v. Michigan Department of State Police, 491 U.S. 58 (1989), is a U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that neither a State nor its officials acting in their official capacities are “persons” subject to damages liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
-
A.
Michigan v. Tucker
Michigan v. Tucker is a 1974 U.S. Supreme Court decision that limited the exclusionary rule’s application to statements obtained without full Miranda warnings, holding that derivative evidence from such statements could still be admissible.
-
B.
Maryland v. Wirtz
Maryland v. Wirtz was a 1968 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld the extension of federal minimum wage and overtime provisions to employees of state-operated schools and hospitals under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
-
C.
South Dakota v. Dole
South Dakota v. Dole is a 1987 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld Congress’s power to condition federal highway funds on states adopting a minimum drinking age of 21, helping define the scope of the federal spending power.
-
D.
Near v. Minnesota
Near v. Minnesota is a landmark 1931 U.S. Supreme Court decision that applied First Amendment free press protections to the states and established a strong presumption against prior restraint by government.
-
E.
Brandenburg v. Ohio
Brandenburg v. Ohio is a 1969 U.S. Supreme Court decision that significantly strengthened free speech protections by establishing the "imminent lawless action" test for when advocacy of violence can be punished under the First Amendment.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (36)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Section 1983 case
ⓘ
U.S. Supreme Court decision ⓘ United States Supreme Court case ⓘ federal civil rights case ⓘ |
| areaOfLaw |
civil rights law
ⓘ
constitutional law ⓘ federal courts and jurisdiction ⓘ sovereign immunity ⓘ |
| citation | 491 U.S. 58 ⓘ |
| citationStyle | United States Reports ⓘ |
| clarifies | that § 1983 does not abrogate state sovereign immunity for damages suits ⓘ |
| country |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| court | Supreme Court of the United States ⓘ |
| decisionDate | 1989 ⓘ |
| effect |
distinguishes between official-capacity and individual-capacity suits under § 1983
ⓘ
limits damages actions under § 1983 against States ⓘ limits damages actions under § 1983 against state officials in their official capacities ⓘ |
| firstPage | 58 ⓘ |
| holding |
a State is not a “person” subject to damages liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983
ⓘ
state officials acting in their official capacities are not “persons” subject to damages liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 ⓘ state officials sued in their official capacities for damages are not subject to suit under § 1983 ⓘ |
| jurisdiction | federal question jurisdiction ⓘ |
| languageOfDecision | English ⓘ |
| legalIssue |
whether a State is a “person” under 42 U.S.C. § 1983
ⓘ
whether state officials sued in their official capacities are “persons” under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for damages ⓘ |
| petitioner | Will ⓘ |
| relatedDoctrine |
Eleventh Amendment immunity
ⓘ
Section 1983 “person” requirement ⓘ official-capacity suits ⓘ state sovereign immunity ⓘ |
| reporter |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
U.S.
|
| reporterVolume | 491 ⓘ |
| respondent |
Michigan State Police
ⓘ
surface form:
Michigan Department of State Police
|
| statuteInterpreted | 42 U.S.C. § 1983 ⓘ |
| term | October Term 1988 ⓘ |
| yearDecided | 1989 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Subject: Will v. Michigan Department of State Police, 491 U.S. 58 (1989) Description of subject: Will v. Michigan Department of State Police, 491 U.S. 58 (1989), is a U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that neither a State nor its officials acting in their official capacities are “persons” subject to damages liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.