Chapter § 4.4

JurisdictionOregon
§ 4.4 ARTICLE I, SECTION 20'S PROHIBITION ON UNEQUAL TREATMENT OF CLASSES OF CITIZENS

Article I, section 20, restricts lawmakers' ability to enact laws that allocate special privileges to citizens based on citizens' membership (or lack of membership) in a particular class. Clark, 291 Or at 237; Savage, 96 Or at 60 ("discriminatory class legislation [is] repugnant to Article I, § 20 of the Constitution"); State v. Goacher, 303 Or App 783, 787-89, 466 P3d 1047 (2020) (generally discussing class-based Article I, section 20, claims).

Whether a law that grants or denies privileges or immunities based on class membership violates Article I, section 20, turns on two factors: (1) whether the class at issue is a nontrue class, a suspect true class, or a nonsuspect true class; and (2) in the case of either type of true class, whether the state or local government has a sufficient justification for the decision to treat different classes differently. See Tanner v. Oregon Health Sciences University, 157 Or App 502, 520-23, 971 P2d 435 (1998), rev den, 329 Or 528 (1999).

A true class is one that exists independently of the challenged law. Examples of true classes include classes that are based on gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, legitimacy, alienage, residency, military service, and religious affiliation. See Tanner, 157 Or App at 521.

A suspect true class is a class that is based on the immutable characteristics of the persons within it or that has been "the subject of adverse social or political stereotyping or prejudice." Tanner, 157 Or App at 522-23. Suspect true classes include gender, race, ethnicity, alienage, sexual orientation, and religious affiliation.

A nonsuspect true class is any...

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