Law professor quoted on sovereign immunity

Professor Paul Bender, of the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, was quoted recently in a National Law Journal article, titled "Options dwindle for foes of state immunity."

The Jan. 26 article, by reporter Marcia Coyle, discusses how business patent holders recently struck out in the U.S. Supreme Court and now face narrowing options for fighting "what one calls the 'risk-free windfall' of states suing without being sued for patent and copyright infringement.

Coyle quotes Bender saying many people have been thinking about legislative solutions to the sovereign immunity issue since the Supreme Court rulings in 1999.

"Is it possible to craft something constitutional in this area?" Bender asked. "I think it must be possible, but it's hard to think of exactly how because it's hard to predict how the (Supreme) Court is going to react."