[highlander_UW]

Say, I like where you're going here. Progressive taxation (higher taxes on the more wealthy) isn't "equal treatment under the law." Perhaps the gays are on to something.....

Hey now, that's an interesting angle!

[Teacher317]

The Supreme Court is waaaay ahead of you guys... gender issues get "heightened scrutiny" for Equal Protection claims, whereas wealth categorizations get "rational basis"/minimum scrutiny. In other words, states are freer to discriminate based on wealth than on gender. (Basically, only racial issues get "strict scrutiny")

It has been fascinating to learn from my Constitutional Law class that legislatures can discriminate all they want, just so long as some court finds that they have a "compelling governmental interest" and that their statutes were "narrowly tailored" to meet that interest. That's how the affirmative action cases got past even the "strict scrutiny" standard... because our beloved SCOTUS thinks that it's fine for Michigan Law School's interest in a "diverse student body" to be more compelling than the Equal Rights of whites to attend that school. And here I thought we had individual rights and Equal Protection in this nation. Silly me.