Boraas v. Village of Belle Terre: The New, New Equal Protection

In Boraas v. Village of Belle Terre a group of unrelated college students who rented a home in Belle Terre challenged a zoning ordinance that limited home occupancy to persons related by blood, marriage, or adoption. The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, finding for the students, decided the case using a novel equal protection theory, and the Supreme Court reversed. This Note deals with the theory adopted by the Second Circuit, its sources, and its future in light of the subsequent Supreme Court opinion in San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez and the Supreme Court’s analysis of Boraas under a more traditional standard.