Constitutional Law MBE Tip of the Day – Equal Protection
MBE Strategies Blog Post Series: Welcome to our MBE tips and tricks blog post series — this post focuses on Constitutional Law MBE tips.
You will see 25 scored Constitutional Law MBE questions on the Multistate Bar Exam.
We have posted several MBE tips (which you can find links to at the bottom of this post) that focus on a specific multiple-choice question that many students answer incorrectly. If you can master these questions, it could increase your MBE score by that many points if you see any of these issues tested again (which, by the way, you will!). These posts of MBE tips and tricks will not only cover substantive law but also strategy. So each post covers one highly-tested area of substantive law as well as an important MBE strategy. You can sign up to receive these posts directly to your inbox for the upcoming administration at the bottom of this page.
Do your best to answer this Constitutional Law MBE question (before even looking at the answer choices and before looking at the answer below!) Ask yourself: What is the subject? What is the legal issue? What is the rule and analysis? What is the conclusion? Try to answer these beginning questions before even reading the answer choices. Then, uncover the answer as well as read more about our MBE tip of the day.
Show MBE Question
Constitutional Law MBE Question
State A requires all state park rangers to pass a fitness test in order to be hired for a job as a state park ranger. The justification is that the job requires intense physical activity. Primarily men apply for the job. Last year, 50 men applied for the job as a state park ranger and 10 women applied. 30 people passed the physical fitness test. All were men. The women brought a lawsuit claiming that the physical fitness test violated the equal protection clause of the Constitution of the United States.
Will the women prevail in their lawsuit?
(A) No, because the state can show that the fitness test is substantially related to an important governmental interest.
(B) No, because there is a rational basis for the physical fitness test.
(C) Yes, because the state cannot show that the fitness test is substantially related to an important governmental interest.
(D) Yes, because the woman can demonstrate a discriminatory impact.
Subject:
Legal Issue:
Legal Rule and Analysis:
Conclusion:
Look at the answer choices provided. Choose an answer choice that matches your conclusion. Review the other answer choices provided.
Show Answer to MBE Question
Answer to the Constitutional Law MBE Question
Subject: Constitutional Law
Legal Issue: Will the women prevail in their equal protection lawsuit?
Legal Rule and Analysis: (B) is the correct answer. Here, there is no classification made based on gender. Women and men can apply equally to the job and if they pass, they have a chance to be offered the job. There also appears to be no discriminatory intent as there are no facts indicating discrimination. Further, the job involves “intense physical activity.” Thus, the rational basis test will apply and the women will not be able to prove that the law is not rationally related to a legitimate government interest.
Choose an answer choice that most closely matches your conclusion and explain why the others are incorrect: The answer is (B). (A) and (C) are incorrect because the state law does not make a classification based on gender and thus, the state will not need to meet intermediate scrutiny. (D) is incorrect because showing a discriminatory impact is not enough—even for classifications that undergo higher scrutiny, such as race.
MBE Tip: If you answer an MBE question incorrectly, we recommend you write down why you answer it incorrectly on a legal pad. This way you can constantly review the law you do not know. And you can find “patterns” in areas of law you don’t know as well as other reasons you may be answering a question incorrectly. If you review this legal pad constantly, you will turn areas of law you don’t know into strengths and you will be able to identify other reasons you are answering a question incorrectly.
For example, if you picked (D) above, you did not know the law — that is, that discriminatory impact is not enough.
If you picked (A) or (C) above, you may not be reading the facts closely enough. Upon close reading, it is clear that there is no classification based on gender — there is a mere discriminatory impact (which is not enough!). This fact pattern is relatively short and simple. Yet, many students pick answer choice (C) above because they do not observe that there is actually no classification based on gender.
If you answered this question incorrectly: Whatever reason you got this wrong, write it down on a legal pad and constantly review this legal pad so you can turn your weaknesses into strengths!
Show Summary of Two Key Takeaway Points
Key Takeaways and MBE tips for the day:
Takeaway for the Law: Discriminatory impact is not enough to show a classification based on gender (or even race!).
MBE Tip: If you answer an MBE question incorrectly, we recommend you write down why you answer it incorrectly on a legal pad. This way you can constantly review the law you do not know. And you can find “patterns” in areas of law you don’t know as well as other reasons you may be answering a question incorrectly. If you review this legal pad constantly, you will turn areas of law you don’t know into strengths and you will be able to identify other reasons you are answering a question incorrectly.
Want to see Past MBE Tip of the Day posts?
If you would like to see “MBE tip of the day” posts from prior days, please check out all of our past MBE tip of the day archives here! We have several of them and we list them by subject!
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If you are looking for MBE help, read our 10 expert MBE tips here. Check out our step-by-step guide to improving your MBE score, please review this post for an overview of tips. If you would like to have the next MBE tip emailed to you when we come out with another one, please fill out the form below.
MBE Tip of the Day
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