Equal Protection Clause: Difference between revisions

The '''Equal Protection Clause''' is from the text of the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution]]. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides "nor shall any State [...] deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws". It mandates that individuals in similar situations be treated equally by the law.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|year=2009|url=https://books.google.de/books?id=EHj_0R2rbxAC&pg=PA153&dq=%22Equal+Protection+Clause+similarly%22+encyclopedia&hl=de&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiR3OXkq-TqAhUQiIsKHfiVCyEQ6AEwAHoECAIQAg#v=onepage&q=%22Equal%20Protection%20Clause%20similarly%22%20encyclopedia&f=false|title =Equal protection of the laws|encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of American Law|publisher=Infobase|last=Failinger|first=Marie|editor-first=David Andrew|editor-last=Schultz|pages=152–53|isbn=9781438109916|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200724001052/https://books.google.de/books?id=EHj_0R2rbxAC&pg=PA153&dq=%22Equal+Protection+Clause+similarly%22+encyclopedia&hl=de&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiR3OXkq-TqAhUQiIsKHfiVCyEQ6AEwAHoECAIQAg#v=onepage&q=%22Equal%20Protection%20Clause%20similarly%22%20encyclopedia&f=false|archivedate=July 24, 2020|quote="The equal protection clause guarantees the right of "similarly situated" people to be treated the same way by the law."}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Fair Treatment by the Government: Equal Protection |url=https://www.georgialegalaid.org/resource/fair-treatment-by-the-government-equal-protec |website=GeorgiaLegalAid.org |publisher=Carl Vinson Institute of Government at University of Georgia |accessdate=July 24, 2020 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200320205514/https://www.georgialegalaid.org/resource/fair-treatment-by-the-government-equal-protec |archivedate=March 20, 2020 |date=July 30, 2004 |quote="The basic intent of equal protection is to make sure that people are treated as equally as possible under our legal system. For example, it is to see that everyone who gets a speeding ticket will face the samEpocedures [sic!]. A further intent is to ensure that all Americans are provided with equal opportunities in education, employment, and other areas. [...] The U.S. Constitution makes a similar provision in the Fourteenth Amendment. It says that no state shall make or enforce any law that will "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law." These provisions require the government to treat persons equally and impartially."}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Equal Protection |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/equal_protection |publisher=Legal Information Institute at [[Cornell Law School]] |accessdate=July 24, 2020 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622210933/https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/equal_protection |archivedate=June 22, 2020 |quote="Equal Protection refers to the idea that a governmental body may not deny people equal protection of its governing laws. The governing body state must treat an individual in the same manner as others in similar conditions and circumstances."|url-status=live}}</ref>

A primary motivation for this clause was to validate the equality provisions contained in the [[W:Civil Rights Act of 1866|Civil Rights Act of 1866]], which guaranteed that all citizens would have the guaranteed right to equal protection by law. As a whole, the Fourteenth Amendment marked a large shift in American constitutionalism, by applying substantially more constitutional restrictions against the states than had applied before the [[American Civil War|Civil War]].

The meaning of the Equal Protection Clause has been the subject of much debate, and inspired the well-known phrase "[[Equal justice under law|Equal Justice Under Law]]". This clause was the basis for ''[[W:Brown v. Board of Education|Brown v. Board of Education]]'' (1954), the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] decision that helped to dismantle [[racial segregation in the United States|racial segregation]], and also the basis for many other decisions rejecting discrimination against, and bigotry towards people belonging to various groups.

While the Equal Protection Clause itself applies only to state and local governments, the Supreme Court held in ''[[Bolling v. Sharpe]]'' (1954) that the [[Due Process Clause]] of the [[Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fifth Amendment]] nonetheless imposes various equal protection requirements on the federal government via [[Incorporation of the Bill of Rights#Reverse incorporation|reverse incorporation]].

In the [[United States]], the "one person, one vote" principle was invoked in a series of cases by the [[Warren Court]] in the 1960s, during the height of related civil rights activities.<ref>Richard H. Fallon, Jr. (2013). ''The Dynamic Constitution''. Cambridge University Press, 196.</ref><ref name=Smith2014>Douglas J. Smith (2014). ''On Democracy's Doorstep: The Inside Story of How the Supreme Court Brought "One Person, One Vote" to the United States''. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.</ref><ref>"One person, one vote", in David Andrew Schultz (2010). ''Encyclopedia of the United States Constitution''. Infobase Publishing, 526.</ref><ref name=Ansolabehere>this footnote is named 'Ansolabehere'</ref>{{efn|Justice Douglas, ''[[Gray v. Sanders]]'' (1963): "The conception of political equality from the [[Declaration of Independence]], to [[Abraham Lincoln|Lincoln]]'s [[Gettysburg Address]], to the [[Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fifteenth]], [[Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Seventeenth]], and [[Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Nineteenth Amendments]] can mean only one thing—one person, one vote."<ref>C. J. Warren, ''Reynolds v. Sims,'' 377 U.S. 533, 558 (1964) (quoting ''Gray v. Sanders'', 372 U.S. 368 (1963)), cited in [https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/quotation/%5Bfield_short_title-raw%5D_185 "One-person, one-vote rule"], Legal Information Institute, Cornell University Law School.</ref>}} Applying the [[Equal Protection Clause]] of the United States Constitution, the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] majority opinion (5-4) led by [[Chief Justice]] [[Earl Warren]] in ''[[Reynolds v. Sims]]'' (1964) ruled that state legislatures, unlike the [[United States Congress]], needed to have representation in both houses that was based on districts containing roughly equal populations, with redistricting as needed after censuses.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oyez.org/cases/1963/23|title=Reynolds v. Sims|last=|first=|date=|website=Oyez|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2019-09-21}}</ref><ref name="governance"/> Some had an upper house based on an equal number of representatives to be elected from each county, which gave undue political power to rural counties. Many states had neglected to redistrict for decades during the 20th century, even as population increased in urban, industrialized areas. In addition, the court ruled in ''[[Wesberry v. Sanders]]'' (1964) that states must also draw federal congressional districts containing roughly equal represented populations<ref name=":0" /> and as such codifying [[Proportionate representation]].