Constitutional Law Ii - Outline
Constitutional Law II – Outline
Spring 2012 – Prof. Bryant
Michael Dean
State Action 1. Generally a. The Constitution’s protections of individual liberties and its requirement for equal protection apply only to the gov’t. Private conduct generally does not have to comply with the Constitution. b. State action is a threshold issue. If there is no state action, the 14th am doesn’t apply. c. Though a threshold issue, courts seem to make exceptions for cases dealing with racial discrimination or 1st amendment protection – they are likely to ‘find’ state action, even if it really doesn’t exist; that is, they will stretch the state action doctrine to fit these cases. d. State action jurisprudence is called a conceptual disaster area. e. Timeline – early cases took a narrow view of state action (Civil Rights cases). State action broadened in the 1940s Warren court which allowed the court to fight private racial discrimination. The Burger/Rehnquist court has curbed this expansion. 2. History f. The Civil Rights Cases i. Issue involved whether a private RR could prohibit blacks from riding. ii. Court held that the 14th Amendment applies only to the government, not to private conduct. Congress lacks power to regulate private conduct. iii. Private action is governed by state law, not by the US Constitution iv. Therefore, the RR could forbid blacks from using it because the RR is a private company, and not the state. v. Justice Harlan’s dissent becomes famous – he develops the “nascent public function test” arguing that while the RR is technically a private company, it is the infrastructure of the country, is open to the public, and it is big enough to act like a government. 3. Two main exceptions to the State Action requirement – situations where private conduct has to comply with the Constitution g. Public Function Theory vi. Definition
Spring 2012 – Prof. Bryant
Michael Dean
State Action 1. Generally a. The Constitution’s protections of individual liberties and its requirement for equal protection apply only to the gov’t. Private conduct generally does not have to comply with the Constitution. b. State action is a threshold issue. If there is no state action, the 14th am doesn’t apply. c. Though a threshold issue, courts seem to make exceptions for cases dealing with racial discrimination or 1st amendment protection – they are likely to ‘find’ state action, even if it really doesn’t exist; that is, they will stretch the state action doctrine to fit these cases. d. State action jurisprudence is called a conceptual disaster area. e. Timeline – early cases took a narrow view of state action (Civil Rights cases). State action broadened in the 1940s Warren court which allowed the court to fight private racial discrimination. The Burger/Rehnquist court has curbed this expansion. 2. History f. The Civil Rights Cases i. Issue involved whether a private RR could prohibit blacks from riding. ii. Court held that the 14th Amendment applies only to the government, not to private conduct. Congress lacks power to regulate private conduct. iii. Private action is governed by state law, not by the US Constitution iv. Therefore, the RR could forbid blacks from using it because the RR is a private company, and not the state. v. Justice Harlan’s dissent becomes famous – he develops the “nascent public function test” arguing that while the RR is technically a private company, it is the infrastructure of the country, is open to the public, and it is big enough to act like a government. 3. Two main exceptions to the State Action requirement – situations where private conduct has to comply with the Constitution g. Public Function Theory vi. Definition