Is harassment of a staff attorney under color of law?

Id. at 468 (emphasis supplied). The court held that because defendants' "harassing behavior had nothing to do with, and bore no similarity to, the nature of the staff attorney job," id., they did not act under color of state law. See also Hughes v. Halifax County School Bd., 855 F.2d 183 (4th Cir.1988) (harassment by fellow school district employees was not under color of law because defendants did not purport to act under authority vested in them by state), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 1042, 109 S.Ct. 867, 102 L.Ed.2d 991 (1989).