1. Burton v. Wilmington Parking Authority, (1961)
2. Facts: A state-operated parking building had a restaurant facility which it leased to a privately-owned business. The restaurant had a policy of discriminating against blacks, and refused to serve Burton solely because he was black.
3. Procedural Posture: Burton brought an action against the owner of the restaurant and the state for violation of equal protection. The state supreme court held that the restaurant was acting in a purely private capacity under the lease, and that its action was not that of the lessor, and therefore not state action.
4. Issue: Whether a private restaurant that is leased as a part of a state-owned public facility may discriminate on the basis of race if there is a sufficient conncetion or nexus between the tenant restaurant and the state owned public facility.
5. Holding: No.
6. Reasoning: The restaurant and the parking garage are inseparably interdependent. The restaurant relies on the presence of parking for its customers, and the parking garage relies on the rent from the restaurant for operating costs. Thus, the state has made itself a party to the discrimination by failing to exercise its power to stop it by writing such terms into the lease. The nexus here is so close that the discrimination can not be considered to be purely private in nature, but rather the state is involved “to some significant extent” with the discrimination.
7. Notes: In Moose Lodge v. Irvis, the Court refused to extend Burton to the case of state licensing, rejecting a state action challenge to a private club’s discrimination, solely on the ground that the private club held a state liquor license. Also, in CBS v. Democratic National Comm., the Court refused to find that refusal of editorial advertisments was state action, solely on the ground that CBS was granted a broadcast license.
