State Action

State Action in the United States

A requirement that limits application of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to situations where discriminatory conduct occurs under state authority. The state action requirement was first established by the Supreme Court in the Civil Rights Cases (109 U.S. 3: 1883). It placed private discrimination outside the reach of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court held that the Amendment was intended to provide relief against state enactments rather than to empower Congress to “legislate upon subjects which are within the domain of state legislation” or “create a code of municipal law for the regulation of private rights.” See also Civil Rights (Judicial Effects and Policies) Equal Protection (Judicial Effects and Policies).

Analysis and Relevance

State action requires a judgment about whether certain kinds of conduct occur under color of state law. A court must determine if discriminatory action is situated closely enough to state authority to be treated as though it were an overt act of the state. A sufficient nexus between challenged action and state authority is generally not difficult to demonstrate, although some private discrimination remains insulated from regulation. While softening the distinctions between private and state-authorized discrimination, thus expanding the reach of the Equal Protection Clause, recent cases have required that discriminatory intent must be shown in addition to injurious impact in order to establish a constitutional violation.

Notes and References

  1. Definition of State Action from the American Law Dictionary, 1991, California

State Action in the United States

State Action

United States Constitution

According to the Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, about its article titled STATE ACTIONThe phrase “state action,” a term of art in our constitutional law, symbolizes the rule-or supposed rule-that constitutional guarantees of human rights are effective only against governmental action impairing those rights. (The word “state,” in the phrase, denotes any unit or element of
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State Action

United States Constitution

According to the Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, about its article titled STATE ACTION America’s federal constitutional system generally protects individual rights only against violation by the national and state governments, their agencies, and officials. State action doctrine limits the scope of constitutional rights guarantees. If a state police officer
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state action Background


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