Lugar v. Edmondson Oil Co.

The Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution provides in part:

“No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the *924United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Because the Amendment is directed at the States, it can be violated only by conduct that may be fairly characterized as “state action.”

Title 42 U. S. C. § 1983 provides a remedy for deprivations of rights secured by the Constitution…