Galette v. New Jersey Transit Corp. · ¶44

Finally, the Court's cases also suggest that courts may consider the degree of control the State exerts over the entity, but courts should do so with caution. Control is not especially probative because “ultimate control of every state- created entity resides with the State,” even those that are not arms of the State. Hess, 513 U. S., at 47. Cities, counties, school boards, and state-created banks have all been recognized as legally separate entities from the States, even though “the State may destroy or reshape any” of these entities that “it create[d].” Ibid. Further, “[g]auging actual control . . . can be a `perilous inquiry' ” and “ `an uncertain and unreliable exercise.' ” Ibid. (quoting Note, 92 Colum. L. Rev. 1243, 1284 (1992)). That is because the State might exercise control through various formal and informal levers, from appointing and removing officers, to directing projects…

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