Nordlinger v. Hahn, 505 U.S. 1, 34 (1992)

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34

NORDLINGER v. HAHN

Stevens, J., dissenting

The adjectives and adverbs in this standard are more important than the nouns and verbs.

A legitimate state interest must encompass the interests of members of the disadvantaged class and the community at large, as well as the direct interests of the members of the favored class. It must have a purpose or goal independent of the direct effect of the legislation and one " 'that we may reasonably presume to have motivated an impartial legislature.' " Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc., 473 U. S. 432, 452, n. 4 (1985) (Stevens, J., concurring) (quoting United States Railroad Retirement Bd. v. Fritz, 449 U. S. 166, 180-181 (1980) (Stevens, J., concurring in judgment)). That a classification must find justification outside itself saves judicial review of such classifications from becoming an exercise in tautological reasoning.

"A State cannot deflect an equal protection challenge by observing that in light of the statutory classification all those within the burdened class are similarly situated. The classification must reflect pre-existing differences; it cannot create new ones that are supported by only their own bootstraps. 'The Equal Protection Clause requires more of a state law than nondiscriminatory application within the class it establishes.' Rinaldi v. Yeager, 384 U. S. 305, 308 (1966)." Williams v. Vermont, 472 U. S., at 27.

If the goal of the discriminatory classification is not independent from the policy itself, "each choice [of classification] will import its own goal, each goal will count as acceptable, and the requirement of a 'rational' choice-goal relation will be satisfied by the very making of the choice." Ely, Legislative and Administrative Motivation in Constitutional Law, 79 Yale L. J. 1205, 1247 (1970).

A classification rationally furthers a state interest when there is some fit between the disparate treatment and the legislative purpose. As noted above, in the review of tax

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