4 ms·

Why can't employees sue the US government? That seems absolutely bonkers. (I'm British, so don't have a huge context for these things)

• nullindividual 3y ago
  The State has sovereign immunity. It cannot be sued unless the State explicitly waives its sovereign immunity rights. Can’t sue me unless I say you can.
  • colejohnson66 3y ago
    The "sovereign immunity" argument is practically never invoked, and claiming that it's a hindrance against suing any government is wrong, and arguable fearmongering. Sure, they could, and maybe we could talk about if they should even have the ability to do such a thing, but they don't really ever use it. Congress has, many times, clawed back some of the reaches of such an argument anyways.[0] For some examples, in the many lawsuits against the NSA (from the leaks by Snowden), the government didn't get out through "sovereign immunity", but the more reasonable "illegally obtained evidence" argument. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_immunity_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_immunity_in_the_Unit...
    • Mountain_Skies 3y ago
      Texas Tech used it to get out of paying Mike Leach his buyout when they fired him. Even having a law degree wasn't enough for Leach to get his day in court as the university claimed sovereign immunity and washed their hands of it.
      • noneeeed 3y ago
        Wait, a university can claim sovereign immunity in the US? That's wild.