Neutrality of justification implies that the justification for laws must not involve reference to judgements about the relative merits of those different ways of life (Mulhall and Swift 1996, p. 30).
The lower, more deferential form of review, used for non-suspect classes, is called "rational basis scrutiny," and courts need only come up with some rational justification for laws considered under this review to find them constitutional.
They argue that there are, in fact, legitimate justifications for laws that limit marriage to one man and one women, including morality, tradition, promoting procreation, promoting family stability, and preserving respect for the institution of marriage.
While federal law enforcement agencies have to keep privacy concerns in mind, "there is no credible justification for federal law enforcement agencies not providing aggregate data on discipline," Bromwich said.
In admitting that the law, HB 2, was meant to limit abortions, Abbott deviated from the state's initial justification for the law, as presented during the case's oral arguments.
He also questioned the scientific proof behind a central justification for the law: that the therapy causes serious harm to minors.
But public morality is a slippery concept, and this justification for the law has come under increasing attack in recent years as vague, ever-changing, and simply inadequate.
Respondents' asserted justification for the law school's use of race in the admissions process is "obtaining the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body".
Thailand's constitutional court swept aside that challenge last month and laid out the justification for the law, saying the king deserves "special protection" because he is the "center of the nation".
There can surely no longer be any justification for a law that treats women as if they are more susceptible to this kind of coercion than men and treats wives as being more coercible than unmarried women.
