<i>Ex Parte Young</i> and Federal Remedies for Human Rights Treaty Violations

The doctrine of Ex parte Young is typically described as an exception to the immunity granted by the Eleventh Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. This Article contends that the Young doctrine also stands for the proposition that the Supremacy Clause creates an implied right of action for injunctive relief against state and local government officers who violate federal statutes or treaties. That right of action is available to plaintiffs who seek to enforce federal statutes or treaties against government officers unless Congress foreclosed the availability of a Young remedy when it enacted the statute, or the treaty makers foreclosed the availability of a Young remedy when they adopted the treaty. A Young remedy is therefore available to plaintiffs who raise treaty-based human rights claims against state or local government officers, because the treaty makers did not foreclose the availability of a Young remedy when they ratified human rights treaties.