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Constitutional Law II Spring 2005Con Law II1 Discrimination Against Other Classes.

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Presentation on theme: "Constitutional Law II Spring 2005Con Law II1 Discrimination Against Other Classes."— Presentation transcript:

1 Constitutional Law II Spring 2005Con Law II1 Discrimination Against Other Classes

2 Spring 2005Con Law II2 Non-Marital Children Indicia of Suspectness Immutable Trait  Characteristic of Birth  Discrete & Insular ? Does not carry an obvious badge History of Discrimination  Bastard  Not as bad as race/sex bias Impediments to political process? Gross unfairness  penalizing child is ineffectual and unjust

3 Spring 2005Con Law II3 Non-Marital Exclusion – Unconst’l Intermediate Scrutiny Levy v. LA (1968); Glona v. Am. Guar. (1968)  statutes denying wrongful death cases. NJWRO v. Cahill (1973)  denial of welfare Gomez v. Perry (1973)  Exemption from parental support Trimble v. Gordon (1977)  denial of intestate inheritance Jiminez v. Weinberger (1974)  Disability benefits denied unless dependency (at time of disability) could be established

4 Spring 2005Con Law II4 Non-Marital Exclusion – Const’l Intermediate Scrutiny Mathews v. Lucas (1976)  Survivors’ benefits payable to non-marital children only where paternity and dependency established (unless could inherit under state law) Labine v. Vincent (1971); Lalli v. Lalli (1978)  (Important) ENDS: Avoidance of Fraud  (Subst. Related) MEANS: Paternal inheritance limited to children legimated during father’s lifetime  CLOSENESS of FIT: Harder to detect fraud if child wasn’t legitimated

5 Spring 2005Con Law II5 Developmentally Disabled City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Ctr (1985) Group home for “mentally retarded” must obtain special use permit; not req’d for others Indicia of Suspectness Immutable Trait? History of Discrimination  Feeble minded  Mentally Ill Insane asylum lunatic

6 Spring 2005Con Law II6 City of Cleburne v. CLC (1985) Indicia of Suspectness Gross unfairness  Real differences between this group and others  Some unique restrictions are appropriate Access to Political Process  Beneficial legislation “belies a continuing antipathy or prejudice” against the group  At what level of gov’t should this inquiry be undertaken? State/Federal: anti-bias laws Local: Cleburne’s hostility to devel. disabled Disinclination to create new suspect classes

7 Spring 2005Con Law II7 City of Cleburne v. CLC (1985) Rational Basis Test (Legitimate) ENDS:  Opposition by neighbors & elderly  Harassment by neighboring school  Public Safety (500 yr flood plain)  City liability for residents’ actions  Density (Rational) MEANS (classification):  Developmentally disabled no less able to cope with flood than residents of nursing homes, hospitals, etc  DD no more likely to create municipal liability than frat brothers  Not a concern for other multi-person living Enforcing bias is never a legitimate state interest

8 Spring 2005Con Law II8 City of Cleburne v. CLC (1985) Standard of Review Rational Basis ? Almost suspect class Meet many, but not all, indicia of suspectness Almost fundamental right Housing is not fundamental under DP or EP, but still a “necessity of life” Degree of Interference Total denial, not simply unequal allocation Taken together, these factors may lead to Rational Basis with Bite

9 Spring 2005Con Law II9


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