"Constitutional Classification Tests".
In the United States the Supreme Court, with its power of judicial review, may determine whether an act by the President, Congress, a national, state, or local administrative official, a state legislature, a local governing board, or a lower court is valid. The Court does not judge whether an act is wise or foolish, but whether it is constitutional or unconstitutional, whether it is permitted or null and void. The U.S. Constitution prescribes the legitimate powers of the national government, reserves others to the states, and protects individuals from governmental invasion of their freedoms of religion, speech, press, and other rights. Likewise, The Court uses three separate tests "the rational basis test, the strict scrutiny test, and the heightened scrutiny test "to determine whether a classification is constitutional or not.
The rational basis test is the traditional test used by the Supreme Court to determine whether a law complies with the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. Moreover, it places the burden of proof on the person(s) disagreeing with the law. As such, the person(s) must convince the Court that the law has no rational or justifiable governmental goals. Secondly, the strict scrutiny test is a more thorough means of the Court in applying its power of judicial review. Thus, the Court must be persuaded that the governmental purpose, objective, or interest is of a "compelling public interest- and there is no less restrictive way of accomplishing said purpose. Typically, this test is applied to suspect classifications, which refer to classifying people according to their religion, national ethnic origin, race, or color. Suspect classification falls under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment where it is written that a state cannot deny equal protection to anyone within its jurisdiction. In other words the Constitution does not prohibit making distinctions among people, but it does forbid unreasonable classifications of people.
