Equal Protection of the Laws Flashcards
What is the Rational Basis rule?
1) Legitimate state interest 2) Means are rationally related (Beazer)
Court will not dig to find out the actual ends and will supply conceivable ends if needed (Clover Leaf)
If the end is not legitimate, the statute is not permissible
What is the rule if a legislature is phasing legislation and Rational Basis applies?
The Legislature gets deference (REA)
Perform an activity-level analysis to determine if the phasing is rational
If the Court cannot come up with a good reason to think that the hypothetical concern is invalid, it will not strike (Lee Optical/REA)
When does Rational Basis Plus arise and what does it do?
1) The Court detects an ends that they do not like (Moreno)
- They will the level of scrutiny on rational fit so that the statute fails
- The Court will not supply a conceivable end
2) The stated ends have better solutions and the Court is aware of a societal animus towards a class (Cleburne)
- The Court will look at whether better solutions are more rationally related
- The Court will interrogate the ends and tease out invidious discrimination
Strauder
Categorization and exclusion of a racial group from a right is not acceptable, but there is no right to racial balancing
McCabe
Equal protection under the law is an individual right, not a group right
Brown
A state/local government cannot operate separate facilities under Separate But Equal, because separation is inherently unequal due to the stigma visited on the separated class
What is the remedy for a segregated school district?
If there is de jure segregation, a Court can supervise to de facto integrated school districts
If there is not de jure segregation, there is no remedy
The Court cannot re-draw school districts
Ex rel. Gaines
In evaluating Separate But Equal, look at the attendant costs of the separate service
Sweatt v. Painter
Adds qualitative criteria to what was laid out in Gaines
Reputation of the faculty, experience of the administration, alumni, standing, tradition, prestige
McLaurin v. Oklahoma
Being segregated in the classroom with regard to education is not allowed because it is not an equal educational experience; need to be able to converse with classmates
Why do we have strict scrutiny?
- To smoke out invidious discrimination
- Classification itself creates a stigmatic harm (Adarand)
Will the Court apply Strict Scrutiny even if there is no harm?
Yes (Johnson)
What are the elements of Strict Scrutiny?
- 1) Compelling government ends 2) Served by means narrowly tailored
- The Court will not provide “conceivable” ends
What is the list of compelling governmental ends?
- Remedying specific identified discrimination that violated the Constitution or a statute (Crosun)
- Promoting diversity in higher education (SFFA)
- Imminent and serious risks to human safety in prisons
- National security (probably) (Korematsu)
What are the principles the Court will leverage when applying Strict Scrutiny?
- Skepticism: The Court will be inherently skeptical of race classifications
- Consistency: The standard of review will be consistent for all race classifications
- Congruence; EPC of 5th A will be treated the same as the EPC of the 14th A