Equal Protection Flashcards
Summary of Equal Protection Rules/Principles
. The Equal Protection Clause only applies to government, not private citizens.
2. The Equal Protection Clause limits the extent to which government can treat
some citizens different from how it treats other citizens (discrimination).
3. Generally, the Equal Protection Clause applies as follows:
1) Racial discrimination receives strict scrutiny
(1) a compelling state interest,
(2) narrow tailoring,
(3) least restrictive means.
2) Sex discrimination receives intermediatish scrutiny
(1) exceedingly
persuasive justification,
(2) substantial relationship to government interest.
3) Everything else receives rational basis review:
(1) a legitimate government
interest
(2) rational relationship between policy and government interest
Railway Express
- New York City had a law banning vehicles advertising
other companies’ products but permitted vehicles to
advertise their own business’s products.
Takeaways
▪ The law was reviewed under a rational basis standard and survives as long as:
(1) there is a legitimate government
interest and
(2) the law is rationally related.
▪ This law survived rational basis.
▪ The Court really didn’t want to play
super-legislature for traffic laws.
Dep’t of Agriculture v. Moreno
Facts and Result
▪ Congress changed the food stamp program to
prevent households with unrelated individuals
from getting food stamps if they
(1) lived as one
economic unit,
(2) shared common cooking
facilities,
and (3) ordinarily purchased food in common.
▪ A class action challenged the new policy as violating the 5th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
▪ The Court held that the new policy failed rational basis review because it was motivated by animus towards “hippies.”
▪ The Court held that the 5th Amendment implicitly included an Equal Protection Clause.
The Reconstruction Amendments revolutionized America’s constitutional order by
redefining “the people” who had constitutional rights and were sovereign over public affairs.
Courts (currently) consider discrimination differently depending on the basis of discrimination:
▪ Discrimination based on race gets strict scrutiny.
▪ Discrimination based on sex gets intermediatish scrutiny.
▪ Discrimination based on characteristics besides race or sex gets rational basis scrutiny but can still be unconstitutional if animus or hatred was why the discrimination occurred.
Once under rational basis scrutiny
typically goverment will always win
For rational basis, the goverment interest just needs to be
somehow related
5th and 14th amendment
read the 5th amendment in light of the 14th amendment
animus doctrine
you cant pass a law to harm a unpopular group
in effect giving a higher standard of review
The Equal Protection Clause and Race
Racial classifications get strict scrutiny and only survive if (1)
there is a compelling state interest, (2) the policy is narrowly
tailored, and (3) the policy is the least restrictive means of
advancing the compelling state interest.
The 14th Amendment
Important components
▪ Section 1 (1) made former slaves
citizens, (2) promised due process
before deprivation of life, liberty, and property, (3) guaranteed equal
protection of the laws, and (4) protected privileges and immunities.
▪ Section 2 lowered states’ representation
if they disenfranchised Blacks.
▪ Section 3 barred insurrectionists from federal office.
▪ Section 4 repudiated confederate war debt and guaranteed federal debt.
Debates about the 14th Amendment are ultimately debates about
how we as a society choose to live out the Declaration of Independence’s assertion that all men are created equal.
U.S. v. Bhagat Thind
▪ An Indian immigrant sought U.S.
citizenship and had it rescinded.
▪ The relevant congressional statute
only allowed “Whites” and “Blacks”
to be naturalized as American
citizens.
The Supreme Court held that Bhagat Thind was not “White” and could not be a citizen.
▪ Ultimately, he got his citizenship
because of a later act of Congress.
Plessy v. Ferguson: Majority
▪At the insistence of whites,
Louisiana’s legislature
passed a law requiring
racial segregation in
railroad accommodations.
▪Homer Plessy was 1/8
Black and purposefully
tested the law.
Aalysis (4)
▪ The Court quickly rejected a 13th
Amendment challenge.
▪ The Court found that Louisiana’s law didn’t violate the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.
▪ The Court believes segregated
railroad cars implicated only social
equality and not the main concerns of the 14th Amendment.
▪ The Court was deferential to the
Louisiana legislature.
White supremacy reflected genuinely held views
about
“liberty,” “equality,” and “the people” and survived the South’s loss in the Civil War.
Commitment to racial segregation and race slavery
necessitated generating definitions of
“White,” “Black,” and “Colored.”
states forcing students to attend schools segregated by race is
unconstitutional
school segregation will have implications for later debates on
race-based affirmative action
Affirmative Action Summary
- Racial classifications get strict scrutiny from courts and are
unlikely to be upheld. - The Supreme Court has found it unconstitutional for public
universities and private universities accepting federal funds to use
racial quotas in admissions or use the fact that someone has
checked a racial box as a basis for giving them a boost in the
admissions process. - There is still considerable uncertainty about the consequences
Students for Fair Admissions will have.
Affirmative Action Definitions
- Taking extra efforts to recruit a diverse applicant pool.
- Giving favorable consideration to members of particular groups in admissions or employment
decisions on an individualized basis. Controversial! - Imposing quotas where a certain number of students or employees must come from particular groups.
Controversial!
Rationale For Affirmative Action
- Remediating Past Discrimination
- Diversity
Critiques of Affirmative Action
- Fairness
- racism Not To Blame for Woes of Racial Minorities
Practical Critiques of Affirmative Action
- Disincentivizing minorities to
produce excellent work. - Creating a cult of victimology
among racial minorities. - Setting minorities up for failure
because of academic mismatch. - Stigmatizing racial minorities as
“unqualified” even if they are
qualified. - Creating racial resentment.
Racial classifications receive
strict scrutiny from courts.
