Equal Protection and the Rights of Minors
Please bear with me as I try to sort out a question that has been in the back of my mind for some time. The prevalence of age based curfews causes me great annoyance. I'm not sure why they annoy me, since I am no longer a minor. This issue once again was raised in my consciousness by
this article, which I received via the
Bluedorn list. Anyway, I am going
to try to sort out my reasoning on the subject and present it here for your consideration.
Most children effected by age based curfews were born in the United States, and everyone born in the United States is a citizen. These statements are based on the
14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.” The preceding quote makes it quite clear that citizenship is conferred at birth. Therefore
children have all the rights and responsibilities that citizenship entails. It is true that there are some
extraordinary age requirements for holding office and voting for electors, but those are exceptions and not the rule.
All citizens are guaranteed
equal protection under the law. Laws discriminating on the basis of age violate equal protection under the law. Thus age based curfews are illegal because they are designed to discriminate against a particular class of people—young people.
I think that I'm missing something to do with minor status. I suppose it is either left up to the states, hidden somewhere in the U.S. Code, or based on common law. Last, but not least: I am not a lawyer. These are semi-coherent musings, not advice.