Also known as: equal protection · Equal Protection Clause · equal-protection doctrine · Fourteenth Amendment equal protection
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A constitutional guarantee that no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. The doctrine requires that similarly situated persons receive substantially similar treatment. Classifications based on race or national origin trigger strict scrutiny while gender classifications receive intermediate scrutiny.
State transportation officials create an electric vehicle rebate program that awards a substantially higher amount to buyers who identify as members of specified racial minority groups. Alex, a nonminority purchaser, receives only the lower rebate despite living in a high-pollution area. Alex sues, alleging that the explicit racial criterion in the benefit distribution violates equal protection.
During jury selection the prosecutor uses peremptory challenges to remove all Black venire members from the panel. Defendant Edgar Evers makes a prima facie showing of racial motivation. The prosecutor must then supply a race-neutral explanation for each strike or the court will sustain the equal protection objection.
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The city council rezones a single parcel owned by Edgewater Capital to permit high-density development while surrounding parcels remain restricted to single-family use. The change deviates from the comprehensive plan and primarily benefits one landowner. Neighboring owners sue, claiming the rezoning denies them equal protection by arbitrarily favoring one property.
State law permits licensed physicians to distribute contraceptives only to married persons. Pharmacist Edith Eberhardt refuses to fill a prescription for unmarried client Erika Echevarria. Echevarria sues, arguing that the marital-status distinction in access to a fundamental privacy interest violates equal protection.
State officials refuse to issue a marriage license to Emanuel Escobar and Eileen Epstein solely because they belong to different racial groups. The couple challenges the prohibition. The court applies strict scrutiny to the racial classification and holds that the ban infringes the fundamental right to marry.
State law imposes a one-year durational residency requirement before new residents may receive full welfare benefits. Ethan Evans, who recently moved from another state, is denied benefits during the waiting period. Evans sues, contending that the residency rule penalizes the exercise of the right to travel and denies equal protection.
Racial classifications receive strict scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause. The state must demonstrate a compelling interest and narrow tailoring. A program that distributes benefits on the basis of race without evidence of past discrimination by the state itself fails this standard.
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No. Explicit gender classifications receive intermediate scrutiny and must substantially advance an important governmental interest. Administrative convenience in recording deeds does not satisfy that standard.
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A rezoning that benefits a single parcel or small area in a manner inconsistent with the comprehensive plan and lacking a legitimate public purpose may be invalid as arbitrary or as a denial of equal protection.
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State laws that classify on the basis of race in regulating marriage are subject to the most rigid scrutiny and cannot stand absent a legitimate purpose independent of invidious racial discrimination. The freedom to marry a person of another race is a fundamental right protected by both equal protection and due process.
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…speaks of "persons born or naturalized in the United States." The word also appears both in the Due Process Clause and in the Equal Protection Clause. "Person" is used in other places in the Constitution: in the listing of qualifications for Representatives and Senators, Art. I, § 2, cl. 2, and § 3, cl. 3; in the Apportionment Clause,…