Author ORCID Identifier
0000-0001-6376-6132
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2014
Keywords
Equal protection, Suspect class doctrine, Sexual orientation, U.S. Supreme Court, Levels of scrutiny, Political powerlessness
Abstract
The Supreme Court purportedly utilizes the suspect class doctrine in order to balance institutional concerns with the protection of important constitutional rights. The Court, however, inconsistently applies this doctrine, and it has not precisely defined its contours. The political powerlessness factor is especially undertheorized and contradictorily applied. Nevertheless, this factor has become salient in recent equal protection cases brought by gay and lesbian plaintiffs.
A growing body of and federal and state-court precedent addresses the flaws of the Court's suspect class doctrine. This Article discusses the inadequacies of the suspect class doctrine and highlights problems within the emerging scholarship and precedent that criticizes the Supreme Court's errors. This Article offers two alternatives approaches that could inform a new theory of equal protection for all subordinate classes.
First Page
975
Publication Title
Alabama Law Review
Recommended Citation
Darren Lenard Hutchinson, Not without Political Power: Gays and Lesbians, Equal Protection and the Suspect Class Doctrine , 65 Ala. L. Rev. 975 (2014).
Included in
Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, Courts Commons, Fourteenth Amendment Commons, Other Political Science Commons, Supreme Court of the United States Commons