Plyler's progeny
Don Kornreich   11/01/09 | 568 words

In Plyler v. Doe, the Supreme Court held (in a 5-to-4 decision) that a Texas state law that sought to deny funds for the education of children who were not legally admitted to the United States violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The court concluded that the undocumented status of these children did not establish a sufficient rational basis for denying them benefits that the state provides to other residents.