Cite as: 513 U. S. 374 (1995)
O'Connor, J., dissenting
actions," Blum v. Yaretsky, 457 U. S. 991, 1005 (1982); and whether "the alleged infringement of federal rights [is] 'fairly attributable to the State,' " Rendell-Baker v. Kohn, 457 U. S. 830, 838 (1982), quoting Lugar v. Edmondson Oil Co., 457 U. S. 922, 937 (1982). Whatever the semantic formulation, I remain of the view that the conduct of a private actor is not subject to constitutional challenge if such conduct is "fundamentally a matter of private choice and not state action." Edmonson v. Leesville Concrete Co., 500 U. S. 614, 632 (1991) (O'Connor, J., dissenting). Lebron relies heavily on Burton v. Wilmington Parking
Authority, 365 U. S. 715 (1961). There, the Court perceived a symbiotic relationship between a racially segregated restaurant and a state agency from which the restaurant leased public space. Noting that the State stood to profit from the discrimination, the Court held that the government had "so far insinuated itself into a position of interdependence with" the private restaurant that it was in effect "a joint participant in the challenged activity." Id., at 725. Focusing on this language, Lebron argues that various features of Amtrak's structure and management—its statutory genesis, the heavy reliance on federal subsidies, and a board appointed by the President—places it in a symbiotic relationship with the Government such that the decision to ban Lebron's speech should be imputed to the State.
Our decision in Burton, however, was quite narrow. We recognized "the limits of our inquiry" and emphasized that our decision depended on the "peculiar facts [and] circumstances present." Id., at 726. We have since noted that Burton limited its "actual holding to lessees of public property," Jackson v. Metropolitan Edison Co., supra, at 358, and our recent decisions in this area have led commentators to doubt its continuing vitality, see, e. g., L. Tribe, American Constitutional Law § 18-3, p. 1701, n. 13 (2d ed. 1988) ("The only surviving explanation of the result in Burton may be that found in Justice Stewart's concurrence").
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