State Action, Congressional Enforcement, and Constitutional Remedies
What this domain tests
This domain tests when constitutional rights apply, how Congress enforces the Fourteenth Amendment, and what remedies are available against government actors.
Core rules
- State action: the Fourteenth Amendment reaches private conduct only with significant state involvement: public function, entanglement, joint action, or judicial enforcement, as in Shelley v. Kraemer.
- Civil Rights Cases: private discrimination alone is not a Fourteenth Amendment violation; the Thirteenth Amendment reaches private slavery and badges of servitude.
- Section 1983: provides damages against persons acting under color of state law; municipalities are liable only for official policy or custom under Monell.
- Bivens: implied damages against federal officers are narrow and disfavored.
- Section 5 enforcement: Congress may enforce the Fourteenth Amendment with congruent and proportional legislation under City of Boerne; it may abrogate state sovereign immunity for those claims.
- Remedies: Ex parte Young allows prospective injunctive relief against state officials; qualified immunity protects officers unless clearly established law was violated.
Worked example
A prisoner sues a state prison warden in federal court for damages under Section 1983. The Eleventh Amendment bars damages against the state, and the warden may be protected by qualified immunity. If the prisoner seeks a prospective injunction to stop an ongoing unconstitutional policy, Ex parte Young allows the suit against the warden in his official capacity.
Traps
- Section 1983 is a remedy, not a source of substantive rights.
- Municipal liability requires policy or custom, not respondeat superior.
- Section 5 cannot create new constitutional rights or expand them beyond the Fourteenth Amendment.
- State action is not required for Thirteenth Amendment claims.