⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The Seventh Circuit hears a retaliation suit by a former vice chancellor at a Wisconsin public university. She says the chancellor fired her after she refused to press a coworker to drop a racial-discrimination complaint and assisted investigators. The district judge dismissed her claims on sovereign-immunity grounds without deciding whether retaliation occurred. Sovereign immunity generally protects states from being sued in federal court. But she sued the chancellor personally, seeking damages for alleged violations of federal rights. Her lawyer will argue that the case holds him personally responsible, rather than making the state pay. His lawyer will argue that this employment dispute is really a claim against the state. You will hear the term public fisc: that means the state treasury. The panel must decide whether immunity blocks the case before its merits can be heard.

Olga Diaz v. James C. Schmidt (No. 26-1507) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, argued October 30, 2026.