Brentwood Academy v. Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Assn.
| Brentwood Academy v. Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association | |
|---|---|
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| Argued October 11, 2000 Decided February 20, 2001 |
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| Full case name | Brentwood Academy v. Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association, et al. |
| Citations | 531 U.S. 288 (more)
531 U.S. 288 (2001)
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| Prior history | On Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit |
| Holding | |
| A statewide association, incorporated to regulate interscholastic athletic competition among public and private schools, is regarded as engaging in state action when it enforces a rule against a member school. | |
| Court membership | |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Souter, joined by Stevens, O'Connor, Ginsburg, Breyer |
| Dissent | Thomas, joined by Rehnquist, Scalia, Kennedy |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amend. XIV, 42 U.S.C. § 1983 | |
Brentwood Academy v. Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association, 531 U.S. 288 (2001), is a United States Supreme Court case concerning whether the actions of an interscholastic sport-association that regulated sports among Tennessee schools could be regarded as a state actor for First Amendment and Due Process purposes. The Court held that the sport-association can be sued as a state actor because its actions and history have been "entangled" with state action. While the Supreme Court would reconsider this same case in the future, this specific decision became important in articulating a new principle of what entities are bound by the First Amendment.
The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) is a non-profit membership corporation organized to regulate interscholastic sports among its members (a large portion of the public and private high schools in Tennessee). The Association's role in regulating interscholastic competition in public schools was recognized by the state's Board of Education in the case.Brentwood Academy is a private high school that fields interscholastic teams as a member of TSSAA. Brentwood was highly successful in sports competition, winning nine state football championships between 1969, when it was founded, and 1997. This success fostered resentment among opponent schools, which questioned the Academy's tactics for recruiting players.
In 1997, TSSAA investigated rumors that Brentwood Academy was engaging in illegal practices to recruit public school athletes to the school. No such practices were identified, but TSSAA discovered that Brentwood Academy's football coach had invited eighth grade boys who would be enrolling in the school the following school year to attend spring football practice. TSSAA identified this as a violation of its rules and fined the school $3,000 for contacting student athletes prior to their official enrollment at the school and for violating a TSSAA policy prohibiting "undue influence on a student (or) his or her parents...to secure or to retain a student for athletic purposes." The Association also placed the school on four years' probation and banned it from participating in state playoff games for two years.
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