State actor

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A state actor is a term used in United States law to describe a person who is acting on behalf of a governmental body, and is therefore subject to regulation under the United States bill of rights including the First, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, which prohibit the federal and state governments from violating certain rights and freedoms.

Although at first blush the term would seem to include only persons who are directly employed by the state, the United States Supreme Court has interpreted these amendments and laws passed pursuant to them to cover many persons who have only an indirect relationship with the government. Controversies have arisen, for example, over whether private companies that run towns (the "company-town") and prisons (traditionally a state function) can be held liable as state actors when they violate fundamental civil rights. This question remains unresolved, but the Supreme Court has held private citizens to be liable as state actors when they conspire with government officials to deprive people of their rights. Conversely, in National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Smith, the Supreme Court has found that the National Collegiate Athletic Association is not a state actor, despite its heavy reliance on state-supported educational institutions.

Unlike state actors, private actors are generally not required to afford individuals the constitutional rights mentioned above. In nearly all U.S. states, private shopping center owners can eject protesters from their land for trespassing, and private associations can eject members or deny admission to applicants, with no warning and for no reason. But in a handful of states, notably California, state constitutional protections and certain common law rights have been extended to limit private actors. California allows the peaceful exercise of free speech in private shopping centers (see Pruneyard Shopping Center v. Robins (1980)) and requires certain types of private actors to afford current or potential members a rudimentary version of procedural due process called fair procedure.

[edit] References

• Black, Charles. "The Supreme Court 1966 Term—Foreword: 'State Action,' Equal Protection, and California's Proposition 14." Harvard Law Review. 81:69 (1967)
• Chemerinsky, Erwin. "Rethinking State Action." Northwestern University Law Review. 80:503 (1985).
• Friendly, Henry J. "The Public-Private Penumbra—Fourteen Years Later." University of Pennsylvania Law Review. 130:1289 (1982).
• Stone, Christopher D. "Corporate Vices and Corporate Virtues: Do Public/Private Distinctions Matter?" University of Pennsylvania Law Review. 130:1441 (1982).
• Strickland, Henry C. "The State Action Doctrine and the Rehnquist Court." Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly. 18:587 (1991).
• Glennon, Jr., Robert J. and Nowak, John E. "A Functional Analysis of the Fourteenth Amendment 'State Action' Requirement." Supreme Court Review. 1976:221.