The US Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that an Army reservist can sue Texas for improper treatment under the Uniform Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA). The court held that Congress may exercise its power under Article I of the US Constitution to authorize private damages suits against non-consenting states.

This case concerns US Army reservist, Le Roy Torres, who was injured in Iraq after being called to active duty. Torres received toxic burns while on active duty, leaving him with constructive bronchitis. This injury left Torres unable to return to his previous job as a state trooper with the Texas Department of Public Safety. Texas refused to reemploy Torres in a different role, so Torres sued Texas under §4313(a)(3) of USERRA. USERRA is a federal law that gives returning service members the right to reclaim previous jobs with state employers.

In a 5-4 majority decision authored by Justice Stephen Breyer, the court ruled that, by ratifying the Constitution, the states agreed their sovereignty would yield to the national power to raise and support the Armed Forces. Congress passed USERRA pursuant to its powers granted in Article I. Using the PennEast test from a case last term, the court ruled that the states gave “complete delegation” of authority to the federal government to provide for the common defense in the Constitution. This test asks whether a federal power is “complete in itself, and the States consented to the exercise of that power—in its entirety—in the plan of the Convention.”

Justice Clarence Thomas filed a dissenting opinion, asserting that states did not implicitly consent to private damages suits filed in their courts by ratifying the Constitution. Thomas stated, “Congress has ample means to ensure compliance with valid federal laws, but it must respect the sovereignty of the States.”