North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners v. Federal Trade Commission
United States Supreme Court
135 S. Ct. 1101 (2015)
The North Carolina Dental Board (defendant), a majority of whose members are practicing dentists, sent cease-and-desist letters to non-dentists offering teeth-whitening services, asserting the practice required a dental license though the governing statute never mentioned teeth-whitening; the FTC brought an antitrust enforcement action, and the Board claimed state-action immunity, arguing state supervision was unnecessary since the Board was itself a state entity. An administrative law judge, the FTC, and the Fourth Circuit all ruled against the Board, and the Supreme Court granted certiorari.
Whether the action of a state agency controlled by active market participants is exempt from Sherman Act regulation under the state-action doctrine absent both a clearly articulated state policy and active state supervision of that policy.