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In 1967. large oil reserves were discovered in the prudhoe bay area of alaska. as a result, state revenues increased from $124 million in 1969 to $3.7 billion in 1981. in 1980, the state legislature enacted a dividend program that would distribute annually a portion of these earnings to the state's adult residents. under the plan, each citizen each citizen eighteen years of age or older receives one unit for each year of residency subsequent to 1959, the year alaska became a state. the state advanced three purposes justifying the distinctions made by the dividend program: (a) creation of a financial incentive for individuals to establish and maintain residence in alaska: (b) encouragement of prudent management of the earnings; and (c) apportionment of the benefits in recognition of undefined "contributions of various kinds, both tangible and intangible, which residents have made during their years of residency." crawford, a resident since 1978, brings, suit challenging the dividend distribution plan as violate of the equal protection guarantee. did the dividend program violate the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment? explain.

User Aklin
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Equal Protection. The difference that it makes when a state distributes benefits unevenly are subject to examination under the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. A law will survive inspection if the result of the difference sensibly advances a legitimate purpose.

User Bonje Fir
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