Cite as: 531 U. S. 356 (2001)
Breyer, J., dissenting
would sustain' " challenged legislation, then " 'there is a presumption of the existence of that state of facts, and one who assails the classification must carry the burden of showing . . . that the action is arbitrary.' " Pacific States Box & Basket Co. v. White, 296 U. S. 176, 185 (1935) (quoting Borden's Farm Products Co. v. Baldwin, 293 U. S. 194, 209 (1934)). Imposing this special "burden" upon Congress, the Court fails to find in the legislative record sufficient indication that Congress has "negative[d]" the presumption that state action is rationally related to a legitimate objective. Ante, at 367.
The problem with the Court's approach is that neither the "burden of proof" that favors States nor any other rule of restraint applicable to judges applies to Congress when it exercises its § 5 power. "Limitations stemming from the nature of the judicial process . . . have no application to Congress." Oregon v. Mitchell, 400 U. S. 112, 248 (1970) (Brennan, White, and Marshall, JJ., concurring in part and dissenting in part). Rational-basis review—with its presumptions favoring constitutionality—is "a paradigm of judicial restraint." FCC v. Beach Communications, Inc., 508 U. S. 307, 314 (1993) (emphasis added). And the Congress of the United States is not a lower court.
Indeed, the Court in Cleburne drew this very institutional distinction. We emphasized that "courts have been very reluctant, as they should be in our federal system and with our respect for the separation of powers, to closely scrutinize legislative choices." 473 U. S., at 441. Our invocation of judicial deference and respect for Congress was based on the fact that "[§ ]5 of the [Fourteenth] Amendment empowers Congress to enforce [the equal protection] mandate." Id., at 439 (emphasis added). Indeed, we made clear that the absence of a contrary congressional finding was critical to our decision to apply mere rational-basis review to disability discrimination claims—a "congressional direction" to apply a more stringent standard would have been "controlling." Ibid. See also Washington v. Davis, 426 U. S. 229, 248
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