Opinion ID: 2543215
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: The Equal Protection Clause in the U.S. Const., Fourteenth Amendment

Text: ¶ 54 Plaintiffs/appellants complain that the sensitive sole source groundwater basin classification causes disparate treatment of landowners and permit applicants and holders contrary to the U.S. Const., Fourteenth Amendment, Equal Protection Clause and Due Process Clause. We do not agree. ¶ 55 The United States Supreme Court has fashioned a two-tier equal protection framework. Equal protection analysis requires strict judicial scrutiny of statutes that operate to the peculiar disadvantage of a suspect class such as a class based on alienage or ancestry or that interfere with the exercise of a fundamental right grounded in the constitution such as the right to vote, right to interstate travel and rights guaranteed by the First Amendment. Mass. Bd. Of Retirement v. Murgia, 427 U.S. 307, 312, 96 S.Ct. 2562, 2566, 49 L.Ed.2d 520 (1976). Equal protection analysis of other statutes is the less stringent rational basis standard. The legislative class is examined for a rational relation to the objective of the statute. Id. at 314, 96 S.Ct. 2562. The rational relation inquiry is a relatively relaxed standard reflecting the Court's awareness that the drawing of lines that create distinctions is peculiarly a legislative task and such action by the Legislature is presumed valid. Id. ¶ 56 The sensitive sole source groundwater basin legislation does not relate to a fundamental right grounded in the constitution nor does it operate upon a suspect classification. Equal protection analysis of the legislation does not require strict judicial scrutiny. We have already examined the legislation for purposes of art. 5, § 59 and concluded that the sensitive sole source groundwater basin classification has a reasonable basis and it is rationally related to the purpose of the law. We reach the same conclusions for purposes of equal protection. The challenged legislation does not deny plaintiffs/appellants equal protection of the laws.