Duncan's Con Law Course Blog
The web log for Prof. Duncan's Constitutional Law Classes at Nebraska Law-- "[U]nder our Constitution there can be no such thing as either a creditor or a debtor race. That concept is alien to the Constitution's focus upon the individual. In the eyes of government, we are just one race here. It is American. " -----Justice Antonin Scalia If you allow the government to take your liberty during times of crisis, it will create a crisis whenever it wishes to take your liberty.
Sunday, April 07, 2024
Summer Reading and Film for Summer 2024
And one more recommendation for summer reading: CS Lewis, The Screwtape Letters. I will be re-reading Screwtape myself this summer.
Monday, February 19, 2024
My Case Western Law Review Article on School Choice Has Been Published
Link:
Why School Choice is Necessary for Religious Liberty and Freedom of Belief
Here is the abstract:
Abstract
The government school monopoly for funding K–12 education creates a coercive system that commandeers a captive audience of impressionable children for inculcation in secular ideas, beliefs, and values concerning matters of truth, moral character, culture, and the good life. The brutal bargain imposed on parents by this monopoly requires them to choose between the single largest benefit most families receive from state and local governments and educating their children in a curriculum that is consistent with the preferred educative speech of the parents. To choose the latter is to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of dollars of tax-funded support for K–12 education.
This coercive, take-it-or-leave-it system of funding education is inconsistent with both the letter and the spirit of the Free Speech Clause and the Free Exercise Clause. As John Stuart Mill observed, it results in a despotism over the hearts and minds of our precious offspring and eradicates the right of parents to control the education of their children. It violates the spirit of freedom of speech by forcing parents to substitute the preferred viewpoints of government officials for their own concerning fundamentally important ideas about history, government, justice, sexuality, gender identity, and many other topics arising in the course of K–12 education. Moreover, because the government school curriculum is strictly secular, this funding monopoly inherently forces religious parents to choose between their faith and their ability to afford to educate their children. Such religious discrimination is odious to both the letter and spirit of the Free Exercise Clause.
However, the Supreme Court has made clear that the government may adopt a “strictly secular” curriculum in the public schools and has no obligation to fund private K–12 schools. So, at least for the foreseeable future, the Court’s First Amendment jurisprudence will not relieve parents of the brutal bargain imposed on them by the government school monopoly. Thus, in the short term, parents must look to federalism and foot voting to achieve at least some degree of school choice. Many states have begun to enact at least some financial assistance supporting educational choice. What is more, one state— Arizona—has enacted legislation funding educational choice for every family in the state.
As support for the school choice movement grows in many states, families who live in these states will have access to the support they need to help pay the cost of educating their children in schools of their choice. Importantly, many families may choose to vote with their feet by relocating from monopoly states to states that support educational choice. We live in a very mobile society, and people move from one state to another for many reasons. For many families, moving to states that support school choice may be the best reason of all to vote with their feet. At the very least, it should be one important factor when families decide which job offers to accept and which to reject. The hearts, souls, and minds of our children matter a great deal, and parents should always do what they believe is best to train up their children in the way they should go.
To end this Article where it began, the letter and spirit of the First Amendment deeply values freedom of religion, thought, and belief formation. If these values are to survive in our deeply divided, pluralistic Nation, parents must be free to choose an appropriate education for their children, without having to sacrifice the benefit of public funding of education. To put it succinctly, educational funds should be directed to children and their parents, not to strictly secular government schools. School choice is the civil rights and civil liberties issue of this present age, and one way or another—either in the courts or in the states—we need to get there.
Recent Nebraska Case Concerning Student Free Speech and Free Exercise in Public School
This is a real case handled by a former student of mine that arose in 2023, but I share it here as a hypothetical.
Somewhere in the heart of Nebraska, there is a public middle school with a very ignorant and mean-spirited principal. The principal threatened to suspend a seventh grade student for 19 days (19 days is the longest suspension allowed without a full expulsion) for handing a tract on "the life and teachings of Jesus" during non-instructional time to willing classmates. The principal said that it was a violation of church and state and a violation of federal law! Lol. Nothing is further from the truth. The truth is that this kind of censorship violates both the Free Speech Clause and the Free Exercise Clause. The principal is targeting religious speech for censorship and essentially incompetently practicing law without a license.
But such is the world people of faith must contend with in America circa 2023.
Update: Once a lawyer wrote a letter demanding the school not violate the students First Amendment rights, the principal caved and the student is once again free to speak about his faith on campus. But again, this should never have happened.
Thursday, November 23, 2023
Happy Thanksgiving!
Here is the text of George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789:
By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation.
Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor-- and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.
Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be-- That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks--for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation--for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war--for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed--for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted--for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.
and also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions-- to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually--to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed--to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord--To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us--and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.
Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.
Go: Washington
Washington issued a proclamation on October 3, 1789, designating Thursday, November 26 as a national day of thanks. In his proclamation, Washington declared that the necessity for such a day sprung from the Almighty’s care of Americans prior to the Revolution, assistance to them in achieving independence, and help in establishing the constitutional government.
Monday, November 13, 2023
Question & Answer Session: Wednesday November 29 at 1:30 (Room 113)
Today you voted overwhelmingly to postpone our Q & A session.
Thus, instead of class on Wednesday November 15, we will meet in room 113 on Wednesday November 29 at 1:30 to 2:30 PM for said Q & A class.
Standards of Constitutional Review
The Equal Protection Clause provides: "No state shall...deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
STANDARDS OF REVIEW
I. MINIMAL SCRUTINY (DEFERENCE)
Rational Basis Test - The government restriction need only be rationally or conceivably related [Means] to any legitimate state interest [Ends].
II. INTERMEDIATE SCRUTINY (SKEPTICISM)
Intermediate Scrutiny Test - The government restriction must serve important governmental objectives [Ends] and must be substantially related to the achievement of those objectives [Means]. [“Intermediate scrutiny always asks is there some less restrictive alternative available?” Epstein, Takings at 138.]
III. STRICT SCRUTINY (CYNICISM)
The governmental restriction must be necessary [the Least Restrictive Means] to achieve a compelling state interest [Ends].
CHART
MEANS ENDS
I. Rationally Related Any Legitimate State Interest
II. Substantially Related Important Governmental Objective
III. Necessary Compelling State Interest
[The Ends are the purposes sought to be advanced (e.g. health and safety). Means are the methods chosen to accomplish those ends.]
Notice this insight of Chief Justice Rehnquist: "The
Equal Protection Clause is itself a classic paradox, and makes sense
only in the context of a recently fought Civil War. It creates a
requirement of equal treatment to be applied to the process of
legislation, legislation whose very purpose is to draw lines in such a
way that different people are treated differently. The problem presented is one of sorting the legislative distinctions which are acceptable from those which involve invidiously unequal treatment." Trimble v. Gordon, 430 U.S. at 780 (1977).
In other words, the job of the Court is to sort through mounds of
perfectly legitimate legislative classifications in order to isolate and
invalidate the few bad apples in the orchard. The 3 standards of review enable the Court to strike down invidious classifications while upholding the legitimate classifications.
Sunday, November 12, 2023
Assignments for November 13 & 14
Monday November 13: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit’s decision in Missouri v. Biden. Please follow the link to the 5th Circuit's opinion. When you get to it, focus your attention on the extreme nature of the facts and on the "state action" section of the opinion. Don't worry about the standing discussions. They are good, but we have moved on from standing. The Supreme Court has granted review, so we will soon get a definitive ruling. And here is an article by Amy Howe of SCOTUSblog on this case.
Tuesday November 14: A preview of Con Law II: An Executive Summary of Equal Protection-- No reading other than Blog Posts on Equal Protection
Wednesday November 15: I will ask you next week whether you prefer a Q & A session on November 15 or whether you wish to postpone it to a time closer to the exam. Your choice.
A Weekend Thought: What Theology Teaches About Constitutional Interpretation
Greetings from Saturday Morning! I was reading one of my favorite theologians--the late, great James Montgomery Boice--and he said something about theology and interpreting Scripture that I think also applies to interpreting the Constitution. He said that "often heresy results from emphasizing one part of biblical truth at the expense of other parts, as a result of which even that one part is distorted."
Does this not apply to the central issue of Con Law I, the relationship between the enumerated powers of the national government and the reserved powers of the states. When the Court applies "as you wish" deference to national power (e.g., to the Commerce power and the Necessary and Proper Clause), does it not distort both the enumerated powers of the national government and the right of the people to be governed closer to home under the reserved powers and the 10th Amendment? To avoid constitutional heresy, the Court should keep constitutional doctrines straight and in balance. As-you-wish deference overemphasizes national power at the expense of Tenth Amendment federalism and liberty.
Just a thought I had on a Saturday morning when studying the Gospel of John and Boice's wonderful expositional commentary.
The Highlight of the Course for Me: As You Wish Deference (Trademarked)
As we approach our last week of Con Law I, I have a few thoughts. This is my last time teaching Con Law I--I want to spend more time playing with grandkids and reading the Bible--and I have very much enjoyed this semester. I enjoy regular "office hours in the lobby" and chatting with students, some days for a full 90 minutes after class has ended. I've enjoyed talking (and learning) about new topics such as the Major Questions Doctrine, and state action and censorship of speech on social media platforms.
And the highlight of the course for me was coining the phrase "as you wish deference" to describe the Court as a love-sick farm boy when deferring to power grabs by Congress. My thanks to Westley (Farm Boy), Princess Buttercup, and The Princess Bride movie for serving as my muse for this descriptive phrase.
I hope to see many of you next year in either (or both) of First Amendment or Con Law Seminar.
Let's finish strong!
PS: What would Inigo Montoyo say when the Court held that "necessary" means convenient?
Narrator: "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
Saturday, November 11, 2023
Missouri v. Biden: Application of the "Close Nexus" test (See Brentwood Academy)
The Background Doctrine
The government cannot abridge free speech. U.S. Const. amend. I. A private party, on the other hand, bears no such burden—it is “not ordinarily constrained by the First Amendment.” That changes, though, when a private party is coerced or significantly encouraged by the government to such a degree that its “choice—which if made by the government would be unconstitutional,—“must in law be deemed to be that of the State.” This is known as the close nexus test....But, on one hand there is persuasion, and on the other there is coercion and significant encouragement—two distinct means of satisfying the close nexus test. --p. 28-29
Encouragement
We start with encouragement. To constitute “significant encouragement,” there must be such a “close nexus” between the parties that the government is practically “responsible” for the challenged decision....[S]ignificant encouragement requires“[s]omething more” than uninvolved oversight from the government. After all, there must be a “close nexus” that renders the government practically “responsible” for the decision. Taking that in context, we find that the clear throughline for encouragement in our caselaw is that there must be some exercise of active (not passive), meaningful (impactful enough to render them responsible) control on the part of the government over the private party’s challenged decision. Whether that is (1) entanglement in a party’s independent decision-making or (2) direct involvement in carrying out the decision itself, the government must encourage the decision to such a degree that we can fairly say it was the state’s choice, not the private actor’s. [citing a case that held that "significant encouragement is met when 'the state has has some affirmative role, albeit one of encouragement short of compulsion,' in the decision.]
....
[In summary]:For encouragement, we read the law to require that a governmental actor exercise active, meaningful control over the private party’s decision in order to constitute a state action. That reveals itself in (1) entanglement in a party’s independent decision-making or (2) direct involvement in carrying out the decision itself.
Coercion
p. 33: "Next, we take coercion—a separate and distinct means of satisfying the close nexus test. Generally speaking, if the government compels the private party’s decision, the result will be considered a state action. So, what is coercion? We know that simply “being regulated by the State does not make one a state actor.” Coercion, too, must be something more. But, distinguishing coercion from persuasion is a more nuanced task than doing the same for encouragement. Encouragement is evidenced by an exercise of active, meaningful control, whether by entanglement in the party’s decision-making process or direct involvement in carrying out the decision itself. Therefore, it may be more noticeable and, consequently, more distinguishable from persuasion. Coercion, on the other hand, may be more subtle. After all, the state may advocate—even forcefully—on behalf of its positions....
The Second Circuit starts with the premise that a government message is coercive—as opposed to persuasive—if it “can reasonably be interpreted as intimating that some form of punishment or adverse regulatory action will follow the failure to accede to the official’s request.”
....
Again, honing in on whether the government “intimat[ed] that some form of punishment” will follow a “failure to accede,” we parse the speaker’s messages to assess the (1) word choice and tone, including the overall “tenor” of the parties’ relationship; (2) the recipient’s perception; (3) the presence of authority, which includes whether it is reasonable to fear retaliation; and (4) whether the speaker refers to adverse consequences.
So, what do y'all think about Missouri v. Biden? Was the involvement of the White House significant enough to constitute state action by a close nexus amounting to encouragement? Coercion?
See page 61-62:
But, the Supreme Court has rarely been faced with a coordinated campaign of this magnitude orchestrated by federal officials that jeopardized a fundamental aspect of American life. Therefore, the district court was correct in its assessment—“unrelenting pressure” from certain government officials likely “had the intended result of suppressing millions of protected free speech postings by American citizens.”
And notice also that when government censors speakers it also censors everyone who was denied access to the censored information. Everyone in this room who is on social media was denied the right to receive the information that was censored by this partnership between government and social media platforms.
The Supreme Court is going to decide this issue soon. We need clear guidance about when persuasion becomes coercion or encouragement.
Missouri v. Biden and State Action: Just the Facts
The White House and the Surgeon General's Office
"Considering their close cooperation and the ministerial ecosystem, we take the White House and the Surgeon General’s office together. Officials from both offices began communicating with social media companies—including Facebook, Twitter (now known as “X”), YouTube, and Google— in early 2021. From the outset, that came with requests to take down flagged content. In one email, a White House official told a platform to take a post down “ASAP,” and instructed it to “keep an eye out for tweets that fall in this same [] genre” so that they could be removed, too. In another, an official told a platform to “remove [an] account immediately”—he could not “stress the degree to which this needs to be resolved immediately.” Often, those requests for removal were met.
....
For example, in an effort to get ahead of a negative news story, Facebook preemptively reached out to the White House officials to tell them that the story “doesn’t accurately represent the problem or the solutions we have put in place.” The officials were often unsatisfied. They continued to press the platforms on the topic of misinformation throughout 2021, especially when they seemingly veered from the officials’ preferred course. When Facebook did not take a prominent pundit’s “popular post[]” down, a White House official asked “what good is” the reporting system, and signed off with “last time we did this dance, it ended in an insurrection.” [LOL]
To ensure that problematic content was being taken down, the officials—via meetings and emails—pressed the platforms to change their moderation policies. For example, one official emailed Facebook a document recommending changes to the platform’s internal policies, including to its deplatforming and downgrading systems, with the note that “this is circulating around the building and informing thinking.” In another instance, the Surgeon General asked the platforms to take part in an “all-of-society” approach to COVID by implementing stronger misinformation “monitoring” programs, redesigning their algorithms to “avoid amplifying misinformation,” targeting “repeat offenders,” “[a]mplify[ing] communications from trusted . . . experts,” and “[e]valuat[ing] the effectiveness of internal policies.” The platforms apparently yielded. They not only continued to take down content the officials flagged, and provided requested data to the White House, but they also changed their moderation policies expressly in accordance with the officials’ wishes.
Still, White House officials felt the platforms were not doing enough. One told a platform that it “remain[ed] concerned” that the platform was encouraging vaccine hesitancy, which was a “concern that is shared at the highest (and I mean highest) levels of the [White House].” So, the official asked for the platform’s “road map to improvement” and said it would be “good to have from you all . . . a deeper dive on [misinformation] reduction.”...The Surgeon General contemporaneously issued a public advisory “calling out social media platforms” and saying they “have a role to play to improve [] health outcomes.” The next day, President Biden said that the platforms were “killing people” by not acting on misinformation. Then, a few days later, a White House official said they were “reviewing” the legal liability of platforms—noting “the president speak[s] very aggressively about” that—because “they should be held accountable.”The platforms responded with total compliance. Their answer was four-fold. First, they capitulated to the officials’ allegations. The day after the President spoke, Facebook asked what it could do to “get back to a good place” with the White House."
The FBI
Next, we consider the conduct of the FBI officials. The agency’s officials regularly met with the platforms at least since the 2020 election. In these meetings, the FBI shared “strategic information with [] social-media companies” to alert them to misinformation trends in the lead-up to federal elections....Apparently, the FBI’s flagging operations across-the-board led to posts being taken down 50% of the time.
Not as egregious as the White House, but how would you react if the FBI regularly met with you to express concerns about your posts on social media? The entire operation to marginalize, remove, suspend, and deplatform speech (often true speech) that contradicts the Government's official narrative reminds one of Big Brother's [or the Big Guy's] Ministry of Truth and the Thought Police in Orwell's 1984.
Were you shocked at the level of governmental interference with private expression on social media platforms? I was. I had no idea the level of Thought Policing was so extensive.
Wednesday, November 08, 2023
If the Constitution Doesn't Govern Private Actors, Who (or What) Does?
Several students asked about private discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations. They basically said "if the Constitution doesn't forbid private discrimination, what does?"
Of course, the answer is civil rights statutes and ordinances enacted by Congress, states legislatures, or local government.
Most constitutional law cases arise because some law enacted by Congress or the states restricts some constitutional right. Nebraska passes a law forbidding certain kinds of speech. The law is clearly state action (the speech restriction is written into the statute), this triggers the Free Speech issue, and the law may or may not violate the Free Speech Clause. Congress passes the Health Care law with an individual mandate. Clearly this is state action and the law may or may not violate the Constitution (the Court upheld it as a tax, as you may remember).
If a private landlord discriminates on the basis of race, there is no state action so no constitutional claim. But the discrimination certainly violates any number of fair housing laws passed by Congress, the states, and many cities.
I hope this helps clarify any confusion.
Reitman v. Mulkey (p. 1168)
The California Constitution was amended by the voters to provide private landowners the right to discriminate in their "absolute discretion."
Here is what the amendment provided: "“Neither the State nor any subdivision or agency thereof shall deny, limit or abridge, directly or indirectly, the right of any person, who is willing or desires to sell, lease or rent any part or all of his real property, to decline to sell, lease or rent such property to such person or persons as he, in his absolute discretion, chooses.” (casebook p. 1168-1169)
Does this amendment, which authorizes private owners of residential real property to discriminate on the basis of race or any other basis, violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment?
Although the state is not required to enact laws prohibiting racial discrimination in housing, is a constitutional amendment that was intended to authorize private racial discrimination unconstitutional?
The Supreme Court says yes, the amendment is unconstitutional because, by making the "right to discriminate one of the basic policies of the State," it "will significantly encourage and involve the state in private discrimination." Casebook p. 1171.
Jackson v. Metropolitan Edison Co. (p. 1165)
From Oyez:
Facts of the case
Catherine Jackson had received electricity from Metropolitan Edison at her home. Her service was terminated in September 1970 due to a lack of payment. Jackson opened another account under the name of another resident, James Dodson. Metropolitan Edison investigated her residence on October 6, 1971 and service was again terminated without notice on October 11. Jackson sued in federal district court under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983. She sought damages for the termination and an injunction to continue her service. The court dismissed her suit. The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed the dismissal.
Question
Did Metropolitan Edison's termination of Jackson's electrical service qualify as "state action" under the Fourteenth Amendment?
Conclusion
No. In a 6-3 opinion delivered by Justice William H. Rehnquist, the court affirmed the Third Circuit and held that Metropolitan Edison's termination of Jackson's service did not qualify as state action. Rehnquist reiterated that private actions are "immune from the restrictions of the Fourteenth Amendment." The Court acknowledged that Metropolitan Edison was heavily regulated by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, but this regulation did not make Metropolitan Edison part of the state.
Is "there a close nexus between the state and the challenged action of the regulated entity so that the action of the latter may be fairly treated as that of the State itself?" Casebook p. 1165.
Is this case more like Burton or more like Moose Lodge?
Casebook p. 1167:
We also find absent in the instant case the symbiotic relationship presented in Burton v. Wilmington Parking Authority, 365 U.S. 715 (1961). . . . Metropolitan is a privately owned corporation, and it does not lease its facilities from the State of Pennsylvania. It alone is responsible for the provision of power to its customers. In common with all corporations of the State it pays taxes to the State, and it is subject to a form of extensive regulation by the State in a way that most other business enterprises are not. But this was likewise true of the appellant club in MooseLodge No. 107 v. Irvis...
We conclude that the State of Pennsylvania is not sufficiently connected with respondent’s action in terminating petitioner’s service so as to make respondent’s conduct in so doing attributable to the State for purposes of the Fourteenth Amendment. We therefore have no occasion to decide whether petitioner’s claim to continued service was “property” for purposes of that Amendment, or whether “due process of law” would require a State taking similar action to accord petitioner the procedural rights for whichshe contends.
I think the Court is reluctant to be too quick to find that private action is state action, because as we have said a number of times, the Constitution "is not the law that governs us [private actors]. [It] is
the law that governs those who govern us." Barnett quotation.
NRA v. Vullo (cert granted)
The Tweet I quoted in class gave the wrong name of the case. Here is the correct info.
"Issue: Whether the First Amendment allows a government
regulator to threaten regulated entities with adverse regulatory actions
if they do business with a controversial speaker, as a consequence of
(a) the government’s own hostility to the speaker’s viewpoint or (b) a
perceived “general backlash” against the speaker’s advocacy." Here is a NYT article on the case.
Tuesday, November 07, 2023
Moose Lodge v Irvis (p. 1161)
From Oyez:
Facts of the case
K. Leroy Irvis, a black man who was a guest of a white member of the Moose Lodge No. 107, was refused service at the club's dining room because of his race. The bylaws of the Lodge limited membership to white male Caucasians. Irvis challenged the club's refusal to serve him, arguing that the action of the Pennsylvania liquor board issuing the Lodge a license made the club's discrimination "state action."
Question
Did the discriminatory practices violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment? [See casebook p. 1162: "While the principle is easily stated, the question of whether particular discriminatory conduct is private, on the one hand, or amounts to “state action,” on the other hand, frequently admits of no easy answer. . . ."]
Conclusion
No. In a 6-to-3 decision, the Court held that the Moose Lodge's refusal to serve food and beverages to Irvis because he was black did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court noted that the state action doctrine did not necessarily apply to all private entities that received benefits or services from the government; otherwise, the Court reasoned, all private associations that received electricity, water, and fire protection would be subject to state regulation. The Court found that the Moose Lodge is "a private social club in a private building," and thus not subject to the Equal Protection Clause.
How is this case different from Burton? See p. 1163: "In short, while Eagle was a public restaurant in a public building, Moose Lodge is a private social club in a private building."
Justice Douglas points to the "scarcity" of liquor licenses as a factor pointing toward state action. Thoughts? What about a private club that limits membership to persons holding certain ideological beliefs, say a club that limits membership to socialists or libertarians? If granted a liquor license, must they refrain from discriminating on the basis of ideological viewpoints under the theory of the dissent?
Burton v. Wilmington Parking Authority (p. 1156)
From Oyez:
Facts of the case
In August 1958 William H. Burton, an African American, entered the Eagle Coffee Shoppe, a restaurant leasing space within a parking garage operated by the Wilmington Parking Authority, and was denied service solely because of his race. The Parking Authority is a tax-exempt, private corporation created by legislative action of the City of Wilmington for the purpose of operating the city's parking facilities, and its construction projects are partially funded by contributions from the city. The Parking Authority provided the restaurant heating and gas services and maintained the premises at its own expense. Burton filed suit seeking an injunction preventing the restaurant from operating in a racially discriminatory manner on the ground that doing so violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. A state court granted the injunction but was reversed on appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court.
Question
Did the Eagle Coffee Shoppe's refusal to serve Burton constitute a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?
Conclusion
In a 6-3 decision authored by Justice Tom C. Clark, the Court concluded that the restaurant, as a recipient of assistance by the parking authority, benefited from the city's aid and constituted a financially integral and indispensable part of the state. As such, the Court found that the restaurant and the parking authority were so physically and financially intertwined that the private entity's conduct could be imputed to the government. Thus, it’s discrimination could be considered state action in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Justice Potter Stewart concurred in the judgment.
Justice Harlan, joined by Justice Whittaker, dissented. Justice Frankfurter wrote a separate dissenting opinion.
I think this case was strongly impacted by the fact that racial discrimination was occurring in a place of public accommodation located on real property owned by the State of Delaware and leased to the private restaurant.
If this case involved a restaurant who refused to serve a customer wearing a racist tee shirt, I doubt the Court would have found sufficient state action to trigger the Free Speech Clause in a suit brought by the customer rejected because of the message expressed by his tee shirt. The Court expressly noted that the State could have insisted on a clause in the lease requiring the lessee to serve all customers without regard to race. As Justice Clark said (p.1157): "By its inaction, the Authority, and through it the State, has not only made itself a party to the refusal of service, but has elected to place its power, property and prestige behind the admitted discrimination. The State has so far insinuated itself into a position of interdependence with Eagle that it must be recognized as a joint participant in the challenged activity, which, on that account, cannot be considered to have been so “purely private” as to fall without the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment."
Chemerinsky on Burton: "The Supreme Court found that the government was so entangled with the restaurant that there was a "symbiotic relationship" sufficient to create state action. For example, the government had responsibility for upkeep and maintenance of the building and this was done with public funds. The parking facility was used by the restaurant's customers. At the same time, the government benefited from revenues from the restaurant and its customers."
Of course, all these factors are simply part of the landlord-tenant relationship. The landlord maintains the building and the tenant pays rent. The parking garage was open to all the public. So, it seems that if there was state action in this case, it was because the government leased space in a government building to a restaurant.
Again, I ask if the restaurant refused service to a customer wearing a racist tee shirt, would there be state action sufficient to trigger the Free Speech Clause?
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Monday August 28 : Handout on Moore v Harper (PDF has been emailed to you); Originalism vs. the "Living Constitution": Strau...
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I. Tinker A student's right to speak (even on controversial subjects such as war) in the cafeteria, the playing field, or "on the...
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"Studying the Constitution has some of the same intellectual delight as reading Aristotle: it opens the mind on a subject of fi...