1.   They were, however, guaranteed state immunity from any new charges after they agreed to co-operate with the government investigation.

2.   Brann described the bargain as an acceptance of federal lawmaking authority within a framework of state sovereign immunity from suit.

3.   A federal appeals court reinstated the suits, saying the act properly superceded state immunity.

4.   Advocates for the elderly worried that the Supreme Court would continue a recent pattern of siding with states rather than Congress in assessing state immunity.

5.   Brann offered a sweeping argument, asserting that state immunity barred not only private plaintiffs, but also the federal government, from suing a state in state court.

6.   But such state immunity does not protect schools from accusations of federal civil-rights violations, and there are plenty of those.

7.   In addition, Orland argued that the legislative branch should decide the boundaries of state immunity.

8.   Widening the boundaries of state immunity from suit under the law, however, offers a more oblique route to the same end.

9.   Browne-Wilkinson also noted that the ruling appeared to mark the first time a national court had denied a foreign head of state immunity from prosecution.

10.   Browne-Wilkinson said the ruling appeared to mark the first time a national court had denied a foreign head of state immunity from prosecution.