ABSTRACT
In Romer v. Evans, 517 US 620 (1996), the US Supreme Court held that the voters of Colorado could not amend the state constitution to prohibit antidiscrimination ordinances protecting gay and lesbian people. The amendment was challenged in court. At trial, Colorado argued that Amendment 2 served a compelling state interest that was narrowly tailored to meet important objectives because it deterred factionalism; preserved the integrity of the state's political functions. The Colorado Supreme Court rejected these claims and held that the amendment violated the strict-scrutiny test that applied when the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment was implicated. The US Supreme Court, in a six-three decision, agreed with the Colorado Supreme Court's decision but used a different standard for reviewing the state's justification of the amendment. The Court explicitly distanced itself from the state court's analysis using the strict-scrutiny test and concluded that the amendment did not pass even the rational-basis test.
