Cite as: 517 U. S. 186 (1996)
Opinion of Stevens, J.
Second, relying principally on Jackson v. Metropolitan Edison Co., 419 U. S. 345 (1974), and Flagg Bros., Inc. v. Brooks, 436 U. S. 149 (1978), Justice Thomas argues that a major political party is not a "state actor" unless its nominees are virtually certain to win the general election. See post, at 264-276. Thus, the Party would be a state actor if Virginia allowed only its candidates' names to appear on the ballot, but if the privilege of ballot access (or a preferred position) is reserved to two parties, neither is performing a public function when it selects its nominees. Given Justice Thomas' reliance on cases construing the reach of the Fourteenth Amendment, the argument seems to challenge both the constitutional power of Congress to prohibit discrimination in the Party's selection of its nominees for federal office and our construction of the statute.
To the extent the argument addresses the constitutionality of the Act, it is wholly unconvincing. Jackson held that a private utility did not act "under color of any statute . . . of any State" within the meaning of 42 U. S. C. § 1983 when it terminated a customer's electric service. Flagg Bros. held that a warehouseman did not violate § 1983 when it sold goods that were entrusted to it for storage. In both cases, this Court concluded that the defendants were not acting under authority explicitly or implicitly delegated by the State when they carried out the challenged actions. In this case, however, as we have already explained, supra, at 195- 200, the Party acted under the authority conferred by the Virginia election code. It was the Commonwealth of Virginia—indeed, only Virginia—that had the exclusive power to reserve one of the two special ballot positions for the
treatment of the regulation, claiming that we "displac[e]" § 5 with it, post, at 258, n. 4; that we "substitut[e]" it as the "analytical starting point" of the case, post, at 262; and that by considering it we somehow prejudge the question presented, post, at 263. None of these assertions is accurate. We begin our discussion of the case by analyzing the regulation for the simple reason that the District Court rested its decision on that ground, and the Party argues that the regulation supports its position.
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