Though it is not written in the Constitution or its amendments, there is understood to be a background principle that a state cannot be called into the court of another state absent its consent. In Gallette, the Court considers whether the NJ Transit Corporation (NJT) is an “arm of the state,” or instead merely an entity created by the state, for the purposes of this form of interstate sovereign immunity.
The case arises because the NJT injured two people, one of whom brought suit in NY courts and the other of whom brought suit in PA courts—possible because the NJT operates over state lines. The state courts reached different conclusions on this question of sovereign immunity. The NY court regarded NJT as not immune—and the PA court regarded NJT as an arm of the state, and therefore immune from suit.
For the purposes of prediction, the model regards the PA decision as the lower court outcome. So a reverse prediction means that the Court will say that NJT is not immune. And that is what the model predicts, on an ideologically mixed 6-3 basis. The model is quite uncertain of the dissents, however, and this could easily be another 9-0 case.
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