State action doctrine
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The 14th Amendment |
| Modalities of Constitutional Law |
State action doctrine is a legal principle that the Fourteenth Amendment -- and thus the Bill of Rights -- applies only to state and local governments, not private entities. Under state action doctrine, private parties outside the government do not have to comply with procedural or substantive due process under the Fourteenth Amendment. For example, the First Amendment does not apply to private schools because they are not part of state or local government.
There are two exceptions to this rule:
- public functions
- entanglement
These exceptions hold that private corporations performing government functions, such as handling law enforcement in a small town, would be subject to the Fourteenth Amendment. Similarly, high school athletic associations dictating who may compete in high school programs have been held to be subject to the Fourteenth Amendment. This is important to homeschooling as it attempts to end discrimination by public school sports leagues.[1]
Examples
Tulsa Prof'l Collection Servs., Inc. v. Pope, 485 U.S. 478, 485 (1988) ("Private use of state-sanctioned private remedies or procedures does not rise to the level of state action.").
Moose Lodge No. 107 v. Irvis, 407 U.S. 163, 173 (1972) (converting a private actor into a state actor merely because the private entity uses state services would destroy the distinction).
Rundus v. City of Dall., 634 F.3d 309, 315 (5th Cir. 2011) ("We hold that the facts here clearly indicate SFOT is not a state actor; it runs a private event on public property. The pervasive entwinement present in Brentwood is not presented in the facts before us."