In Feeney, the Court said "the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees equal laws, not equal results." (p. 765)
In other words, equal protection scrutiny is triggered only by intentional or purposeful discrimination on the basis of race or gender, not by neutral laws that result in disproportionate impact. Suppose, for example, data showed that the federal income tax imposes a greater burden on some races than on other races. Or that federal welfare laws disproportionately provide benefits to some races rather than others. Are these laws presumptively unconstitutional and subject to strict scrutiny?
Feeney says the EPC is triggered only if the plaintiff can demonstrate that the law was enacted "at least in part 'because of,' not merely 'in spite of,' its adverse effects upon an identifiable group." (p. 766) Thus, veterans' preferences for civil service jobs do not trigger gender-based-equal-protection scrutiny, because they are enacted to repay veterans for the sacrifices they have made for their country, not because they disproportionately benefit men over women. Do you agree with Feeney? Why or why not?
