Ex parte Young

Minnesota enacted a law regulating railroad rates that exposed railroad officers to criminal penalties, including lengthy imprisonment, for charging excessive rates. Railroad shareholders (plaintiffs) sued in federal circuit court, claiming the law violated due process, and sought to enjoin Minnesota's attorney general, Edward Young (defendant), from enforcing it. Young moved to dismiss on Eleventh Amendment grounds; the circuit court denied the motion and enjoined Young. When Young nonetheless filed a state-court action to enforce the law, the circuit court held him in contempt, and he sought habeas corpus and certiorari from the U.S. Supreme Court.