132
Stevens, J., dissenting
opinion of the Ohio Supreme Court did not cite a single case decided by this Court.
If the State Supreme Court did misconstrue the Equal Protection Clause of the Federal Constitution, the impact of that arguable error is of consequence only in the State of Ohio, and will, in any event, turn out to be totally harmless if that court adheres to its previously announced interpretation of the State Constitution. I therefore believe that the Court should deny the petition for certiorari.
If the case does warrant this Court's review, it should not be decided summarily. It surely should not be disposed of simply by quoting descriptions of the rational-basis standard of review articulated in four nonunanimous opinions of this Court deciding wholly dissimilar issues. Cases applying the rational-basis test have described that standard in various ways. Compare, e. g., the Court's opinions in F. S. Royster Guano Co. v. Virginia, 253 U. S. 412, 415 (1920), and Cle-burne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc., 473 U. S. 432, 446 (1985), with the majority opinion in Railroad Retirement Bd. v. Fritz, 449 U. S. 166, 174-177 (1980). Indeed, in the latter case there were three opinions, each of which formulated the rational-basis standard differently from the other two. Ibid. (majority opinion); id., at 180-181 (Stevens, J., concurring in judgment); id., at 183-184 (Brennan, J., dissenting).3
reform, or abolish the same, whenever they may deem it necessary; and no special privileges or immunities shall ever be granted, that may not be altered, revoked, or repealed by the General Assembly." The court found it unnecessary to consider respondent's additional arguments based, in part, on other provisions of the State Constitution. Id., at 237, 699 N. E. 2d, at 470.
3 In a footnote to the opinion in Fritz that cited a number of rational-basis cases, the Court made this observation:
"The most arrogant legal scholar would not claim that all of these cases applied a uniform or consistent test under equal protection principles. And realistically speaking, we can be no more certain that this opinion will remain undisturbed than were those who joined the opinion in Lindsley [v. Natural Carbonic Gas Co., 220 U. S. 61 (1911)], [F. S.] Royster Guano
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