82
O'Connor, J., dissenting
lation to a child is uniquely "verifiable from the birth itself" to those present at birth, ibid., the majority has not shown that a mother's birth relation is uniquely verifiable by the INS, much less that any greater verifiability warrants a sex-based, rather than a sex-neutral, statute.
In our prior cases, the existence of comparable or superior sex-neutral alternatives has been a powerful reason to reject a sex-based classification. See supra, at 78. The majority, however, turns this principle on its head by denigrating as "hollow" the very neutrality that the law requires. Ante, at 64. While the majority trumpets the availability of superior sex-neutral alternatives as confirmation of § 1409(a)(4)'s validity, our precedents demonstrate that this fact is a decided strike against the law. Far from being "hollow," the avoidance of gratuitous sex-based distinctions is the hallmark of equal protection. Cf. J. E. B., 511 U. S., at 152-153 (Kennedy, J., concurring in judgment) (" 'At the heart of the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection lies the simple command that the Government must treat citizens as individuals, not as simply components of a racial [or] sexual . . . class' " (quoting Metro Broadcasting, Inc. v. FCC, 497 U. S. 547, 602 (1990) (O'Connor, J., dissenting))).
The majority's acknowledgment of the availability of sex-neutral alternatives scarcely confirms the point that "[t]he differential treatment is inherent in a sensible statutory scheme." Ante, at 64. The discussion instead demonstrates that, at most, differential impact will result from the fact that "[f]athers and mothers are not similarly situated with regard to the proof of biological parenthood." Ante, at 63. In other words, it will likely be easier for mothers to satisfy a sex-neutral proof of parentage requirement. But facially neutral laws that have a disparate impact are a different animal for purposes of constitutional analysis than laws that specifically provide for disparate treatment. We have long held that the differential impact of a facially neutral law does not trigger heightened scrutiny, see, e. g.,
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