Today the Supreme Court decided Torres v. Texas Department of Public Safety, in which a 5-4 Court concluded that state sovereign immunity does not prevent Congress from authorizing suits against states pursuant to its power to raise and support armies. Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for the majority, in what may have been his last majority opinion as a Supreme Court Justice. He was joined by the Chief Justice and Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Kavanaugh. Justice Thomas dissented, joined by Justices Alito, Gorsuch, and Barrett.
Torres was a definite win for federal power, which would seem fitting for Justice Breyer's last opinion. Other than joining parts of the Chief Justice's opinion in NFIB v. Sebelius, Justice Breyer has been a fairly consistent vote against limitations on federal power, including (as relevant here) claims that the federal government may not subject state governments without their consent to suit due to sovereign immunity.
In Torres, Breyer drew upon las term's decision in PennEast to conclude that the federal government may subject nonconsenting suits to state when exercising powers that are exclusively held by the federal government, such as those powers related to national defense. Here is how he summarized his own opinion:
