Where The Money Is: Remedies to Finance Compliance with Strict Structural Injunctions

This Article examines the formal powers that are available to the federal courts to meet this situation. Part I places the problem in perspective, describing the party structure of the institutional reform decree, the :financial burdens it places on the government defendants, and the relationship of these defendants to the fiscal authorities. Part II surveys the coercive powers historically available to the federal courts sitting in equity. Part III discusses the use of these devices against government defendants who claim financial impossibility. It emphasizes the limited recognition of impossibility, the power to compel the defendants to use available resources efficiently and the indirect coercion of the fiscal authorities by direct pressure on the defendant. Part IV deals with direct proceedings against the treasury or the appropriating body with emphasis on the possible constraints on such proceedings arising from eleventh amendment immunity. It suggests that, where permitted by the eleventh amendment, direct proceedings may better protect both the public’s interest in continued services and political control of ultimate taxing and spending decisions than indirect pressure through such actions as closing the institution.