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appealdiscriminationregulationappellee
appealdiscriminationregulationappellee

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City of New Orleans v. Dukes, 427 U.S. 297, 96 S.Ct. 2513, 49 L.Ed.2d 511

Facts

The appellee, a food vendor, had operated in the Vieux Carre for only two years when the ordinance was amended in 1972 to prohibit sales from pushcarts unless the vendor had been in business for eight years. The vendor challenged the ordinance, claiming it violated her right to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment. The District Court ruled in favor of the city, but the Court of Appeals reversed this decision, leading to the Supreme Court's review.

Appellee operates a vending business from pushcarts throughout New Orleans but had carried on that business in the Vieux Carre for only two years when the ordinance was amended in 1972 and barred her from continuing operations there.

Issue

Whether the New Orleans ordinance's provision that exempted vendors who had operated for eight or more years from the prohibition against selling foodstuffs from pushcarts in the French Quarter denied the vendor equal protection of the laws in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The question presented by this case is whether the provision of a New Orleans ordinance, as amended in 1972, that excepts from the ordinance's prohibition against vendors' selling of foodstuffs from pushcarts in the Vieux Carre, or French Quarter, “vendors who have continuously operated the same business within the Vieux Carre . . . for eight or more years prior to January 1, 1972 . . . ” denied appellee vendor equal protection of the laws in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Rule

The court applied the principle that economic regulations are presumed constitutional unless they involve invidious discrimination or infringe upon fundamental rights, requiring only that classifications be rationally related to a legitimate state interest.

When local economic regulation is challenged solely as violating the Equal Protection Clause, this Court consistently defers to legislative determinations as to the desirability of particular statutory discriminations.

Analysis

The Supreme Court found that the ordinance's grandfather clause, which allowed certain vendors to continue operating, was rationally related to the city's legitimate interest in preserving the character and charm of the French Quarter. The Court noted that the city could reasonably determine that vendors with longer histories in the area were less likely to disrupt the tourist experience and that the gradual approach to regulation was constitutionally permissible.

The city's classification rationally furthers the purpose which the Court of Appeals recognized the city had identified as its objective in enacting the provision, that is, as a means “to preserve the appearance and custom valued by the Quarter's residents and attractive to tourists.”

Conclusion

The Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals' decision, holding that the ordinance was valid and did not violate the equal protection clause. The case was remanded for further proceedings consistent with the Supreme Court's opinion.

The judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Who won?

City of New Orleans prevailed in the case because the Supreme Court found that the ordinance was rationally related to a legitimate governmental interest in preserving the character of the French Quarter.

The Court of Appeals recognized the 'City Council's legitimate authority generally to regulate business conducted on the public streets and sidewalks of the Vieux Carre in order to preserve the appearance and custom valued by the Quarter's residents and attractive to tourists.'

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