State Actions Flashcards
The State Action Doctrine
Historical Background: The Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868 and Congress followed with the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which prohibited PRIVATE race discrimination and provided both civil and criminal penalties for violations. The court found this Act to be unconstitutional and there was no protection for private wrongs.
The court has since held that in some circumstances, private entities are engaging in state action and are therefore subject to the constraints of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The SAD: Public Function
If a private entity takes on a public function, the state action doctrine holds that the private entity may be subject to constitutional constraints, as though it were a governmental entity.
Marsh v. Alabama (1946)
The seminal SAD public function case.
A company owned the town where it operated, and the land where its employees lived. Even though a private company owned the streets of the company town, the court found that the company was subject to constitutional constraints as it carried out those functions of running the town. This was because the company town was in all respects like a public town, only with title to the land held in private hands.
The SAD: Nexus Strand
It’s not enough to have just any involvement, it must be involvement to a significant extent.
Something more is required, something like a significant “nexus” not just between the state and the private actor, but also between the state and the allegedly unconstitutional act, before the court will find state action.
Shelley v. Kraemer (1948)
Homes were sold to black families where there were racial covenants in place that banned people who were black from living in the homes. Neighbors sued to prevent the new owners from taking possession of the properties they had purchased. State courts enforced those restrictions, saying that the covenants were purely private agreements. Through court enforcement (state involvement), the government facilitated the discrimination in this case = enforcement of private race discrimination by the courts in essence was state action, and therefore a public role governed by the Constitution.
The Reconstruction Amendments
“Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by the appropriate legislation.” (Section 5, Amend. 13)
Congress can use its section 5 enforcement power to independently interpret the Constitution. The restrictive view holds that Congress may not create new rights or expand the scope of rights. Congress is limited to laws that prevent or remedy violations of rights recognized by the court.
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)
Case Facts: Local zoning authorities denied a Texas church a permit to build a new facility because the old one was a historic landmark. The church sued for protection under the RFRA and the City in turn challenged RFRA’s constitutionality.
Majority: RFRA was found unconstitutional because it impermissibly expanded the scope of rights and was not proportionate or congruent as a preventative or remedial measure.
When CAN private actors become state actors/actions?
Step 1: Does the claimed constitutional deprivation result from the exercise of a right or privilege having its source in state authority?
- Where the action of the party is not prohibited by state law OR the where the actor has a position of authority under state law, the actor meets this requirement.
Step 2: Can it be “said that the [government] is responsible for the specific conduct of which the plaintiff complains?”
THE FOUR WAYS in which the Court has held that the government is responsible for the specific conduct:
(1) There is significant overt participation by the government.
- Example of Overt Participation: Attorney in a civil case uses peremptory challenges to dismiss African-American jurors. That can only happen with the participation of the judge who is the one who actually dismisses the jurors.
- Example of NO Overt Participation: a private club, which is licensed by the state to sell alcohol, discriminates on the basis of race. Moose Lodge v. Irvis (1972). Meer licensing is generally not enough.
(2) The “private” action involves the performance of a traditional function of government.
- Traditional government function example: a company town that owns all the streets, businesses, and houses, refuses to permit the distribution of leaflets.
- The provision of electricity by an energy company is NOT a traditional government function. The provision of a public access cable channel by a non-profit corporation selected by government officials is NOT a traditional government function.
(3) The injury caused to the claimant is aggravated (made more severe) by the presence of the ”incidents of governmental authority.”
- Examples: The enforcement of a racially-restrictive covenant or the dismissal of a juror because of race.
- But Not: A private school that received nearly all of its revenue from governmental funds and was subject to governmental regulation is not subject to the restrains of the constitution.
(4) The government is “entwined [with the private party’s] management or control.”
- Example: Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association – State Board of Education had formally acknowledged the Association’s role in regulating interscholastic competition in public schools and because the state board of education members sat as nonvoting members of the Association’s governing bodies, the Athletic Association was deemed to be a state actor.
- But Not: The NCAA is not a state actor, and therefore, does not have to provide ‘due process” even though state universities permit it to dictate rules, violations, and punishments for their athletic programs
