Question of the week

Equal Protection

Constitutional Law · NextGen Bar Exam single best answer

A state requires every person who wishes to vote in state and local elections to pay a $30 annual registration fee before receiving a ballot. The fee applies to all voters regardless of income, and the state uses the revenue to help defray the cost of administering its elections. Rosa Delgado, a resident who wants to vote in the upcoming election but genuinely cannot spare the $30, is turned away at registration and challenges the fee under the Equal Protection Clause.

What standard of review applies?

Option A. Incorrect answer. Rational basis, because the fee applies evenhandedly to every voter regardless of that voter’s wealth.
Option B. Correct answer. Strict scrutiny, because conditioning the fundamental right to vote on a fee triggers close review.Correct
Option C. Incorrect answer. Rational basis, because wealth and poverty have never been treated as suspect classifications.
Option D. Incorrect answer. Intermediate scrutiny, because the fee has a disproportionate effect on lower-income voters.

Why

Voting is a fundamental right, and a law that conditions it on the ability to pay a fee unequally distributes that right, so it draws strict scrutiny and almost always falls — a wealth-based barrier to the ballot cannot stand (B). A is the trap: evenhandedness does not save the fee, because charging everyone the same price still excludes those who cannot pay from a fundamental right. C states a true rule — wealth is not a suspect class — but misapplies it; the trigger here is the fundamental right to vote, not wealth as a suspect trait. D reaches for intermediate scrutiny and a disparate-impact theory, but a direct fee on voting burdens the right itself, and that burden is tested under strict scrutiny, not the middle tier.

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