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7 - Equal Protection

from Part II - Symmetry Applied

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2024

Zachary S. Price
Affiliation:
University College of the Law, San Francisco
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Summary

This chapter explores symmetry’s implications for equal protection jurisprudence. A stark political divide has emerged between two understandings of legal equality, particularly with respect to race: conservatives generally favor an “anti-classification” approach focused on ensuring government neutrality, while progressives typically favor an “anti-subordination” approach that allows affirmative governmental action to redress historical group disadvantages. Although the Supreme Court has increasingly aligned its jurisprudence with the anti-classification perspective, symmetry should encourage an approach that gives something to both sides. The Court might accomplish this goal in at least three ways: by returning to the focus on diversity reflected in its earlier decision in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke while giving this framework greater “bite”; by allowing majority groups to disadvantage themselves, so long as they are genuinely dominant at the relevant level of government; and by sometimes allowing selection of government criteria with a view to their demographic effects, so long as these criteria are themselves facially neutral.

Type
Chapter
Information
Constitutional Symmetry
Judging in a Divided Republic
, pp. 179 - 202
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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  • Equal Protection
  • Zachary S. Price, University College of the Law, San Francisco
  • Book: Constitutional Symmetry
  • Online publication: 14 November 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009391818.010
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  • Equal Protection
  • Zachary S. Price, University College of the Law, San Francisco
  • Book: Constitutional Symmetry
  • Online publication: 14 November 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009391818.010
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Equal Protection
  • Zachary S. Price, University College of the Law, San Francisco
  • Book: Constitutional Symmetry
  • Online publication: 14 November 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009391818.010
Available formats
×