Cite as: 533 U. S. 53 (2001)
O'Connor, J., dissenting
rational basis standard, on the other hand, instructs that "a classification 'must be upheld against equal protection challenge if there is any reasonably conceivable state of facts that could provide a rational basis for the classification.' " Heller, supra, at 320 (quoting Beach Communications, supra, at 313). This standard permits a court to hypothesize interests that might support legislative distinctions, whereas heightened scrutiny limits the realm of justification to demonstrable reality.
These different standards of equal protection review also set different bars for the magnitude of the governmental interest that justifies the statutory classification. Heightened scrutiny demands that the governmental interest served by the classification be "important," see, e. g., Virginia, supra, at 533, whereas rational basis scrutiny requires only that the end be "legitimate," see, e. g., Nordlinger v. Hahn, 505 U. S. 1, 10 (1992).
The most important difference between heightened scrutiny and rational basis review, of course, is the required fit between the means employed and the ends served. Under heightened scrutiny, the discriminatory means must be "substantially related" to an actual and important governmental interest. See, e. g., Virginia, supra, at 533. Under rational basis scrutiny, the means need only be "rationally related" to a conceivable and legitimate state end. See, e. g., Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc., 473 U. S. 432, 440 (1985).
The fact that other means are better suited to the achievement of governmental ends therefore is of no moment under rational basis review. See, e. g., Vance v. Bradley, 440 U. S. 93, 103, n. 20 (1979) ("Even were it not irrelevant to [rational basis review] that other alternatives might achieve approximately the same results . . ."); Massachusetts Bd. of Retirement v. Murgia, 427 U. S. 307, 316 (1976) (per curiam) ("[T]he State perhaps has not chosen the best means to accomplish this purpose. But where rationality is the test, a
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