04-Individual Guarantees against Governmental or Private Action

●   Constitutional Restrictions on Power and State Action Requirement

●  Bill of Rights

●  Bill of Rights is the most important source of limitations on the federal government's power.

●   However, the Bill is not applicable to the states.

●  The Fourteenth Amendment

●  The Fourteenth Amendment prohibits states (not the federal government or private persons) from depriving any person of life, liberty, or property without due process and equal protection of the law.

●  Commerce Clause

●  Congress can use Commerce Clause to limit the power of individuals over other individuals - by adopting legislation barring private racial discrimination in activities "connected with" interstate commerce.

●  Rights of National Citizenship

●  The Supreme Court has also allowed Congress to limit the power of private individuals to infringe upon others' rights of national citizenship.

●   State Action Requirement

●  Exclusive Public Functions

●  The Supreme Court has found that certain activities are so traditionally the exclusive prerogative of the state that they constitute state action even when undertaken by a private individual or organization.

●  Significant State Involvement - Facilitating Private Action

●  "State action" also exists whenever a state affirmatively facilitates, encourages, or authorizes acts of discrimination by its citizens.