Westside Mothers v. Haveman

Plaintiffs sued Michigan's health department director Haveman (defendant) under section 1983, alleging Michigan failed to provide Medicaid's mandated early and periodic screening, diagnostic, and treatment services for eligible individuals under 21; the district court dismissed on four grounds -- that Medicaid was merely a contract between the state and federal government, that spending-power programs are not supreme federal law, that Michigan's sovereign immunity barred the suit, and that section 1983 created no private right of action here -- and the plaintiffs appealed.

Whether the Medicaid Act is merely a contract rather than supreme federal law, and whether section 1983 permits suits against state officials to enforce its provisions despite state sovereign immunity.