Facts
- Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) was a private, nonprofit membership corporation regulating interscholastic athletics among Tennessee public and private high schools.
- Public schools comprised most of TSSAA’s membership (about 84%), and its voting membership and governing bodies were dominated by public school officials (principals, assistant principals, and superintendents).
- The Tennessee State Board of Education formally recognized TSSAA’s role and adopted a rule designating TSSAA to supervise and regulate athletics for public schools.
- TSSAA maintained rules prohibiting “undue influence” in recruiting student-athletes.
- After investigating Brentwood Academy, TSSAA found that Brentwood’s football coach sent letters to prospective students inviting them to spring practice and treated this as a recruiting violation.
- TSSAA imposed sanctions, including multi-year probation, a postseason ban, and a monetary fine.
- Brentwood sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging TSSAA’s enforcement constituted state action and violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
- The district court granted summary judgment for Brentwood and enjoined enforcement; the Sixth Circuit reversed on the ground that TSSAA’s conduct was not state action.
Issues
- Whether TSSAA’s enforcement of its recruiting rule against a member school constituted “state action” subjecting it to constitutional constraints and suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
Decision
- The Supreme Court reversed the Sixth Circuit.
- The Court held that TSSAA’s regulatory enforcement was state action because of the pervasive entwinement of public institutions and public officials in TSSAA’s structure and operations.
- The case was returned for further proceedings consistent with the conclusion that constitutional standards applied to TSSAA’s enforcement activity.
Legal Principles
- A nominally private entity may be treated as a state actor when public institutions and officials are pervasively entwined in its composition and workings, such that its conduct may fairly be attributed to the State.
- State-action analysis is not governed by a single necessary or sufficient factor; courts evaluate the closeness of the relationship between the State and the challenged conduct and whether attribution to the State is fair.
- Extensive public-school membership, public-official control of governance, formal state recognition or delegation, and practical exclusivity in regulating a public-school activity support a finding of state action.
Conclusion
Because TSSAA was effectively interwoven with Tennessee’s public school system—through dominant public-school membership, public-official governance, and state recognition of its regulatory role—the Court treated its rule enforcement as state action subject to constitutional review under § 1983.