Also known as: traditionally exclusively reserved to the states · traditional state functions · traditional governmental functions
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A category of powers whose exercise by a private party constitutes state action under the Fourteenth Amendment. The category is limited to functions that only the government has historically performed.
Travis Tate challenged federal wage rules applied to his state transit employer. He argued that operating transit was a traditional governmental function beyond federal reach. The court rejected the claim, noting that the exclusivity test for state action is distinct from Tenth Amendment analysis.
Tiffany Torres challenged a private litigant's use of peremptory strikes in a civil trial. She argued that jury selection is a traditional government function. The court held that even if jury selection is traditional, it has never been exclusively reserved to the State, so no state action occurred.
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Tara Tran sued a private electric company after it terminated her service without a hearing. She asserted that providing essential utility service qualified as a public function. The court ruled that utility service is not a power traditionally exclusively reserved to the State.
Thomas Thompson challenged a private creditor's use of a state attachment procedure to seize his property. He claimed the procedure delegated a traditional sovereign power. The court found that the attachment mechanism was not a power traditionally exclusively reserved to the State.
Trevor Tate, a state transit employee, argued that federal wage rules could not reach his employer because operating transit was a traditional governmental function. The court rejected the claim, noting that the exclusivity test for state action is distinct from Tenth Amendment analysis.
Theo Thomas challenged federal mining rules applied to a state-operated facility. He contended the activity was a traditional state function beyond federal reach. The court held that the relevant inquiry was whether the function was traditionally exclusively reserved to the State, which mining regulation was not.
The plaintiff must demonstrate that the private party exercised a power traditionally exclusively reserved to the State. Courts have identified only a narrow set of such powers, including conducting elections and operating a company town.
No. The function must also have been exclusively reserved to the State. Many services such as utilities and parks have been performed by both public and private actors, so they fall outside the test.
The Tenth Amendment test once asked whether an activity was a traditional governmental function, but that approach was rejected as unworkable. The state-action phrase requires exclusivity as well as tradition and remains good law for determining when private conduct is state action.
…of Appeals affirmed. Held: The attempt to draw distinctions, for purposes of state immunity from federal regulation, between “traditional governmental functions” and “nontraditional governmental functions” is not only unworkable but is also inconsistent with established principles of federalism. National League of Cities v. Usery, supra , is,…