City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Publications and Research CUNY School of Law 2007 An Equal Protection Standard for National Origin Subclassifications: The Context That Matters Jenny Rivera CUNY School of Law How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cl_pubs/156 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact:
[email protected] Copyright 0t72007 by Jenny Rivera Readers interested in reprints or copies of this article may contact the Washington Law Review Association which has full license and authority to grant such requests AN EQUAL PROTECTION STANDARD FOR NATIONAL ORIGIN SUBCLASSIFICATIONS: THE CONTEXT THAT MATTERS Jenny Rivera* Abstract: The Supreme Court has stated, "[c]ontext matters when reviewing race-based governmental action under the Equal Protection Clause."' Judicial review of legislative race- based classifications has been dominated by the context of the United States' history of race- based oppression and consideration of the effects of institutional racism. Racial context has also dominated judicial review of legislative classifications based on national origin. This pattern is seen, for example, in challenges to government affirmative action programs that define Latinos according to national origin subclasses. As a matter of law, these national origin-based classifications, like race-based classifications, are subject to strict scrutiny and can only be part of "narrowly tailored measures that further compelling governmental interests., 2 In applying this two-pronged test to national origin classifications, courts have struggled to identify factors that determine whether the remedy is narrowly tailored and whether there is a compelling governmental interest.