Page:Adams ex rel. Kasper v. School Board of St. Johns County, Florida (2018).pdf/34

 disagrees and even if the legislature refuses to act.”, 135 S. Ct. 2584, 2605 (2015).


 * A.Equal Protection Clause Claim

The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment provides that no State may “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1. Accordingly, the St. Johns County School Board, a political subdivision of the State of Florida, must “treat all persons similarly situated alike or, conversely, [must] avoid all classifications that are ‘arbitrary or irrational’ and those that reflect ‘a bare desire to harm a politically unpopular group.’”, 663 F.3d 1312, 1315 (11th Cir. 2011) (quoting , 473 U.S. 432, 446-47 (1985)). Generally, state action will be upheld “if it is rationally related to a legitimate governmental purpose.” However, classifications based on “sex or gender” are subject to intermediate scrutiny. at 1315–17;, 858