United States v. Bormes (2012)
- Docket
- 11-192
- Decided
- 2012-01-01
Summary
Question: Does the Little Tucker Act waive the sovereign immunity of the United States for claims of damages arising from violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act? Conclusion: No. Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for a unanimous court, vacated the lower judgment and remanded. The Supreme Court held that the Little Tucker Act does not apply when the underlying law imposing monetary liability has its own specific judicial remedies, as in the FCRA. The Little Tucker Act does not create any substantive rights, and was intended to fill the gaps left in more general statutes where monetary relief might be warranted. The lower court should have used the text of the FCRA itself to decide whether sovereign immunity was waived. The Court did not decide whether the FCRA waives the government's sovereign immunity.