The constitutional principle found in the Fourteenth Amendment requiring that government treat similarly situated people alike under the law. It prohibits states from denying any person 'the equal protection of the laws' and has become the foundation for civil rights litigation.
From Latin 'aequalis' (uniform) and 'protectio' (a covering or defense). Added to the Constitution in 1868 during Reconstruction, initially intended to protect freed slaves from discriminatory state laws.
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