Also known as: state-action doctrine · state action · state actor doctrine
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A constitutional principle that limits the application of constitutional protections to actions attributable to governmental actors. The doctrine requires a showing of state involvement before a private party's conduct can be challenged under the Fourteenth Amendment or incorporated Bill of Rights provisions. Purely private discrimination or speech restrictions therefore fall outside constitutional scrutiny absent one of the recognized exceptions.
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Sydney Santos sued Starlight Media in state court for employment discrimination. During jury selection Starlight's counsel used peremptory challenges to remove every Black member of the venire. The trial court enforced the strikes. Because jury selection is a traditional public function performed with active judicial participation, the private litigant's racially discriminatory use of peremptories constitutes state action subject to equal protection review.
Sophia Singh, a beneficiary of a common trust fund, received only publication notice of the trustee's accounting proceeding. The court approved the accounts without actual notice to her. Because the judicial settlement of accounts is state action, the adequacy of notice is measured by due process standards that require reasonable efforts to inform known beneficiaries.
Santiago Sanchez, a public school student, refused to salute the flag on religious grounds. The school board, a governmental entity, expelled him for noncompliance. The board's policy is state action that directly implicates First Amendment protections against compelled speech.
Sabrina Shah owned a home in an area targeted for redevelopment. The city condemned her property and transferred title to a private developer. The city's exercise of eminent domain power is state action subject to the Takings Clause, requiring just compensation regardless of the subsequent private use.
Steven Silva, a terminally ill patient, sought a physician's assistance to end his life. State law criminalized the assistance. The statute is state action that implicates substantive due process claims concerning fundamental liberty interests in medical decision making.
Selena Singh operated a newspaper that published articles critical of local officials. The state obtained an injunction barring further publication of the series. The injunction is state action that triggers First Amendment scrutiny of prior restraints on speech.
Private conduct qualifies as state action when the private entity performs a function traditionally and exclusively reserved to the state, such as operating a company town or conducting primary elections that determine public candidates. The Supreme Court has applied this exception in cases involving municipal services and racially discriminatory pre-primary elections.
Yes. When a state court enforces a racially restrictive covenant that prevents sale of property to Black buyers, the enforcement itself constitutes state action subject to equal protection review. Private parties may enter such agreements, but courts cannot constitutionally compel their performance.
…This right of privacy, whether it be founded in the Fourteenth Amendment's concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action, as we feel it is, or, as the District Court determined, in the Ninth Amendment's reservation of rights to the people, is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to…
…Appellants concede that the preservation of buildings of historical or aesthetic importance is a permissible objective of state action
…Clause. And in Schware v. Board of Bar Examiners, supra , the Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment protects from arbitrary state action the right to pursue an occupation, such as the practice of law. [^maj-3]: See, e. g. , Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co. v. Chicago , 166 U. S. 226; Gitlow v. New York, supra ; Cantwell v.…
…that and nothing more.”[^maj-6] It cannot be doubted that among the civil rights intended to be protected from discriminatory state action by the Fourteenth Amendment are the rights to acquire, enjoy, own and dispose of property. Equality in the enjoyment of property rights was regarded by the framers of that Amendment as an…
…The case is here on appeal under 28 U. S. C. § 1257. Common trust fund legislation is addressed to a problem appropriate for state action
No. A public defender does not act under color of state law when performing traditional lawyer functions for a client. Malpractice or negligence by the defender therefore does not amount to state action that violates due process.
A private trust operating a park constitutes state action when public officials maintain the park and it functions as a public facility open to the community. Racial restrictions imposed by the trust are then subject to constitutional scrutiny.
Yes. When a sheriff beats a prisoner to obtain a confession, the conduct is state action because it is made possible only by the officer's official position and occurs under color of state law.