Comment:
Joseph C. Dilg, Suits Against State Officials: Attorneys’ Fees and the Eleventh Amendment, 53 TEXAS L. REV. 85 (1974).
 

Abstract:
The issue of whether to grant attorneys’ fees in suits against state officers is complicated by the convergence of two contrary developments. Firstly, federal courts are increasingly prone to award attorneys’ fees as a means to encouraging public interest litigation, especially in suits against public officials. Secondly, in Edelman v. Jordan, the Supreme Court suggested that the eleventh amendment may limit the ability of the federal judiciary to make these awards in suits against states or state officers. These contrary trends have resulted in a conflict among the circuits on the permissibility of attorneys’ fees in suits against state officials. This article undertakes to examine this issue through an analysis of the historical implications of the eleventh amendment, the equitable propriety of the awards of attorneys’ fees in this context, and the relation between the two contrary developments in various situations in which awards of attorneys’ fees may be called for.