Rule 11 sanctions are warranted in this case. As an experiment, I directed one of my legal interns, a third-year law student, to conduct appropriate legal research in order to determine whether or not the challenged § 1983 claims are valid. He needed only seventeen minutes to confirm what every responsible practioner in tMs field already knows: they are not. See 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (“Every person who, under color of any statute ... of any State or Temtory or the District of Columbia, subjects ... any citizen ... or other person ... to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured ....”) (emphasis added); Will v. Michigan Dept. of State Police, 491 U.S. 58, 64, 71,109 S.Ct. 2304, 105 L.Ed.2d 45 (1989) (<HOLDING>); id. at 70, 109 S.Ct. 2304 (holding that state
holding that states and state officials acting in their official capacity are not persons under  1983 holding that a state officer sued in his individual capacity may be held personally liable for damages under 42 usc  1983 based upon actions taken in his official capacity holding that punitive damages are not recoverable against a state official sued in his or her official capacity holding state of north carolina and state official sued in their official capacity are immune from  1983 and  1985 actions in federal court holding that state and its officers sued in their official capacity for damages are not persons suable under  1983