| Venue: | 9th Cir. |
| Facts: | TX authorizes local school districts to deny enrollment to children "not legally admitted" to the country. |
| Posture: | District court says this violates Equal Protection. Ct. App. affirms. |
| Issue: | Can TX do this? |
| Holding: | No. |
| Rule: | To get away with this, you'd need to show a substantial state interest. |
| Reasoning: | 14A doesn't cover only citizens. Illegal immigrants aren't a suspect
class per se, and public education isn't a right guaranteed by
the constitution. But it's not just a benefit, either.
Note, however, that these kids aren't able to conform their conduct to the law of immigration-- they are here because of their parents' choices, and it doesn't make sense to penalize them for that. If the state wants to deny a discrete group of innocent children free education, it needs to justify that by showing that the denial firthers some substantial state interest. |
| Dicta: | Marshall (concurring): actually, education is fundamental.
Burger (dissenting): This is not the job of the courts. |