• The equal protection clause has been interpreted to ban separate criminal codes for separate classes of people.

• Three separate standards are used in equal protection clause analysis: strict scrutiny for classifications based on race, intermediate scrutiny for gender, and rational basis for all other classifications.

• An ex post facto law is one enacted in order to retroactively punish behavior.

• Ex post facto laws are banned by the U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 9.

• An ex post facto violation occurs when (1) the law criminalizes an act that was legal when it was committed,

(2) the law increases the punishment for an act after it was committed, or (3) it takes away a defense that was available when the crime was committed.

QUESTIONS:-

1. Explain how the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause places limits on the criminal law.
2. What is an ex post facto law? Provide a specific example.