Relations Among States

Question 1

State-action Doctrine

“significant involvement”

Answer 1

Under the state-action doctrine, a private actor qualifies as a government actor when:

(1) the private actor performs a traditional government function OR
(2) the government is significantly involved in the private actor’s activities.

Significant involvement exists when the government:

1) has a mutually beneficial relationship with the private actor (e.g., joint venture)
2) creates a nexus by affirmatively facilitating or authorizing private action (e.g., through a police officer acting under color of law) OR
3) is pervasively intertwined in the private actor’s management or control.