Equal Protection or Equal Denial: Is It Time for Racial Minorities, the Poor, Women, and Other Opressed People to Regroup?

The suspect classification approach as it pertains to women, racial minorities, and the poor will be analyzed first in order to determine what gains, if any, have been achieved and lost via this route. Then the utility of an equal protection-fundamental rights approach which may accent more concerns common to women, minorities, the poor, and other oppressed peoples will be examined. Finally, the value of a "sliding-scale" route to equal protection issues as a route which might permit the oppressed to present a more reasoned equal protection package to the Court, and simultaneously make it more uncomfortable for the Supreme Court to disregard the societal injustices heaped upon the poor, racial minorities, and other oppressed peoples, will be considered.