Justice for All?: The Equal Protection Clause and Its Not-So-Equal Application to Legal Aliens

This Comment will argue that all classifications of legal aliens, including nonimmigrant aliens, should be subject to strict scrutiny, rather than rational basis review. Part II will discuss the Equal Protection Clause, the levels of scrutiny, and the criteria the Supreme Court uses to determine which classifications should be subject to each level of scrutiny. Part III will discuss Court precedent in relation to the Equal Protection Clause and how the Fifth and Sixth Circuits have contravened that precedent. Part IV will discuss why classifica-tions of nonimmigrant aliens, just like those of immigrant aliens, should be subject to strict scrutiny. Finally, Part V will discuss the implications of treating nonimmigrant aliens as a suspect class and subjecting laws that discriminate against them to strict scrutiny.