Title: Alienating Aliens: Equal Protection Violations in the Structures of State Public-Benefit Schemes
Abstract: Until Congress passed major welfare reform in 1996, judicial review of equal protection challenges to classifications based on alienage followed a relatively simple formula: classifications made by state governments received strict scrutiny while federal classifications warranted rational review. Welfare reform redefined state and federal roles in the welfare system by authorizing states to determine alien eligibility for certain benefits, including Medicaid and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Courts and scholars have recognized that welfare reform presented a more complex question of judicial review, as the government responsible for restricting alien eligibility was neither clearly federal nor state. Faced with this exercise of what scholars have called “immigration federalism,” courts have disagreed with regard to the appropriate standard of review to apply when legally residing aliens challenge their exclusion from state-run public benefits.This Article advances the debate by arguing that a court’s evaluation of equal protection challenges brought by aliens should go beyond the current two-step analysis of (1) labeling the classification as “state” or “federal” and (2) applying the accompanying standard of review. Instead, a court should determine whether the state, rather than the federal government, has made a choice to expend state funds on benefits for its resident citizens but not its resident aliens. If so, the Supreme Court’s equal protection jurisprudence requires strict scrutiny review. Using this nuanced method of equal protection review, this Article concludes by identifying three aspects of state public-benefit schemes that violate the equal protection rights of alien classes and suggests how states can remedy these violations.
Publication Year: 2013
Publication Date: 2013-04-05
Language: en
Type: article
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