Lapides v. Board of Regents of University System of Georgia

{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}}

{{Infobox SCOTUS case

|Litigants= Paul Lapides v. Board of Regents of University System of Georgia

| ArgueDate=February 25

| ArgueYear=2002

| Docket=01-298

| DecideDate=May 13

| DecideYear=2002

| FullName=Lapides v. Board of Regents of University System of Georgia

| USVol=535

| USPage=613

| ParallelCitations=122 S. Ct. 1640; 152 L. Ed. 2d 806

| Prior=251 F.3d [https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/251/1372/539924/ 1372] (11th Cir. 2001); cert. granted, {{ussc|534|991|2001|el=no}}.

| Subsequent=

| Holding= A State waives its Eleventh Amendment immunity when it removes a case from state court to federal court. The university officials' voluntary removal of the action expressly invoked the jurisdiction of the federal courts and thus constituted a waiver of sovereign immunity with regard to state law claims for which immunity was waived in state court. It is an established general principle that a State's voluntary appearance in federal court amounts to a waiver of its Eleventh Amendment immunity. Although Georgia was brought involuntarily into the case as a defendant in state court, it then voluntarily removed the case to federal court, thus voluntarily invoking that court's jurisdiction. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and remanded.

| Majority=Breyer

| JoinMajority=unanimous

| NotParticipating=

| LawsApplied=U.S. Const. amend. XI

}}

Lapides v. Board of Regents of University System of Georgia, 535 U.S. 613 (2002), is a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States which ruled that a state voluntarily waives at least part of its Eleventh Amendment immunity when it invokes a federal court's removal jurisdiction. There has subsequently been a "circuit split" in federal courts regarding whether a state waives immunity from liability or only a federal forum.Stroud v. McIntosh, No. 12-10436 (11th Cir. 2013)