Cite as: 517 U. S. 620 (1996)
Opinion of the Court
Justice Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court.
One century ago, the first Justice Harlan admonished this Court that the Constitution "neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens." Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U. S. 537, 559 (1896) (dissenting opinion). Unheeded then, those words now are understood to state a commitment to the law's neutrality where the rights of persons are at stake. The Equal Protection Clause enforces this principle and today requires us to hold invalid a provision of Colorado's Constitution.
I
The enactment challenged in this case is an amendment to the Constitution of the State of Colorado, adopted in a 1992 statewide referendum. The parties and the state courts refer to it as "Amendment 2," its designation when submitted to the voters. The impetus for the amendment and the contentious campaign that preceded its adoption came in large part from ordinances that had been passed in various Colorado municipalities. For example, the cities of Aspen and Boulder and the city and County of Denver each had
Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, by John C. Dempsey and Larry P. Weinberg; for the American Friends Service Committee et al. by Stark Ritchie; for the American Psychological Association et al. by Paul M. Smith, James L. McHugh, Jr., and Richard G. Taranto; for the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund et al. by Eben Moglen and Pamela S. Karlan; for the Colorado Bar Association et al. by Stephen V. Bomse, Martha Minow, and Frances A. Koncilja; for the Gay and Lesbian Lawyers of Philadelphia by Cletus P. Lyman; for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., et al. by Eric Schnapper, Elaine R. Jones, Theodore M. Shaw, Antonia Hernandez, Judith L. Lichtman, and Donna R. Lenhoff; for the National Bar Association by J. Clay Smith, Jr.; for the National Education Association et al. by Robert H. Chanin and John M. West; for James E. Andrews by Eric J. Graninger; and for Laurence H. Tribe et al. by Mr. Tribe, pro se, John Hart Ely, pro se, Philip B. Kurland, pro se, and Kathleen M. Sullivan, pro se.
Chai R. Feldblum filed a brief for the Human Rights Campaign Fund
et al. as amici curiae.
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