The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, ruled that Alabama's law requiring litigants to exhaust state administrative remedies before filing federal civil rights claims in state courts is unconstitutional. The case, Williams v. Reed, involved unemployed Alabama residents who alleged that delays in processing their unemployment claims during the COVID-19 pandemic violated their federal civil rights under Section 1983. Justice Brett Kavanaugh authored the majority opinion, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. The ruling emphasized that state laws cannot effectively immunize state officials from federal civil rights lawsuits by imposing procedural prerequisites, citing a "catch-22" argument where plaintiffs were blocked from pursuing claims. The decision also addressed concerns over state sovereignty. The dissent, authored by Justice Clarence Thomas and joined by Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett, argued against the decision. The ruling clears the way for Alabama residents to sue the state over delays in unemployment benefits processing.