If the Doctrine Loosely Fits, Wear It: Constitutional Adjudication in State Alienage Cases

This Article examines the Supreme Court's approach to state legislative classifications based on alienage. He argues that the Court has freely permitted such classifications, under the equal protection clause, based on the use of the special public interest exception and the public/political function doctrine. The author examines the Court's methods of adjudication and its interpretation of principles in this area, and examines the consequences for aliens and our system. He concludes that an appropriate standard of review requires an important governmental objective served by a closely drawn legislative classification, and recommends that a quasi-interpretivist method of adjudication be applied to the equal protection clause.