Task: songer_typeiss

What follows is an opinion from a United States Court of Appeals.
Your task is to determine the general category of issues discussed in the opinion of the court. Choose among the following categories. Criminal and prisioner petitions- includes appeals of conviction, petitions for post conviction relief, habeas corpus petitions, and other prisoner petitions which challenge the validity of the conviction or the sentence or the validity of continued confinement. Civil - Government - these will include appeals from administrative agencies (e.g., OSHA,FDA), the decisions of administrative law judges, or the decisions of independent regulatory agencies (e.g., NLRB, FCC,SEC). The focus in administrative law is usually on procedural principles that apply to administrative agencies as they affect private interests, primarily through rulemaking and adjudication. Tort actions against the government, including petitions by prisoners which challenge the conditions of their confinement or which seek damages for torts committed by prion officials or by police fit in this category. In addition, this category will include suits over taxes and claims for benefits from government. Diversity of Citizenship - civil cases involving disputes between citizens of different states (remember that businesses have state citizenship). These cases will always involve the application of state or local law. If the case is centrally concerned with the application or interpretation of federal law then it is not a diversity case. Civil Disputes - Private - includes all civil cases that do not fit in any of the above categories. The opposing litigants will be individuals, businesses or groups.

ALDRICH, Senior Circuit Judge.
In this case, brought by appellants, former employees, against their private employers, alleging violation of their civil rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, appellants may be entitled to high marks for imagination, but nothing else. Defendant appellees, Conagra, Inc. and Molinos de Puerto Rico, Inc., its wholly-owned subsidiary, hereafter, collectively, defendant, found itself in a labor dispute. Appellants sought to invoke the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board, but were turned down on the ground that they were supervisors, 29 U.S.C. § 164(a), and, therefore, not employees entitled to the protection of the National Labor Relations Act. The Puerto Rico Labor Relations Board also refused to issue a complaint, apparently on jurisdictional grounds. Briefly, the asserted underlying facts were that appellants became engaged in a dispute with defendant because of its failure to recognize their union. One of appellants was discharged because of his overvigorous behavior. The others thereupon resigned in protest. Appellants now allege that their civil rights, notably their constitutional rights of free speech and association, but also of property, were infringed.
Passing the question whether appellants could be thought to allege any rights at all, we are at a loss to see where it could be thought that defendant’s actions involved any state action, a basic requirement for recovery under section 1983. Jackson v. Metropolitan Edison Co., 1974, 419 U.S. 345, 95 S.Ct. 449, 42 L.Ed.2d 477; Adickes v. S. H. Kress & Co., 1970, 398 U.S. 144, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 26 L.Ed.2d 142. The Puerto Rico Labor Relations Board’s mere refusal to protest a private action is not state action, see Jackson v. Metropolitan Edison Co., supra; cf. NLRB v. Edward G. Budd Mfg. Co., 6 Cir., 1948, 169 F.2d 571, cert. denied sub nom. Foreman’s Assoc. of America v. Edward G. Budd Mfg. Co., 335 U.S. 908, 69 S.Ct. 411, 93 L.Ed. 441, the more particularly because that Board is without power to prohibit the discharge of supervisors because of their union membership. Beasley v. Food Fair of North Carolina, Inc., 1974, 416 U.S. 653, 94 S.Ct. 2023, 40 L.Ed.2d 443. Appellants offer no suggestion as to how anything the named defendant did, or did not do, involves state action. The discussion of involuntary servitude prior to the Civil War is scarcely pertinent. At best, the case at bar involves the continuation, vel non, of private employment voluntary on both sides.
We have studied the briefs. No oral argument could breathe life into this case. The judgment is affirmed under Local Rule 12.
Actions involving only the federal government are beyond the scope of section 1983. District of Columbia v. Carter, 1973, 409 U.S. 418, 92 S.Ct. 683, 30 L.Ed.2d 661.

Question: What is the general category of issues discussed in the opinion of the court?
A. criminal and prisoner petitions
B. civil - government
C. diversity of citizenship
D. civil - private
E. other, not applicable
F. not ascertained
Answer:

Answer: D