The following excerpt is from Morrow v. City of San Diego, Case No. 11-cv-01497-BAS-KSC (S.D. Cal. 2017):
a suspect classification, plaintiffs can establish a "class of one" equal protection claim by showing that they have "been intentionally treated differently from others similarly situated and that there is no rational basis for the difference in treatment." Id. "Where an equal protection claim is based on 'selective enforcement of valid laws,' a plaintiff can show that the defendants' rational basis for selectively enforcing the law is a pretext for 'an impermissible motive.' " Id. (quoting Freeman v. City of Santa Ana, 68 F.3d 1180, 1187-88 (9th Cir. 1995)). However, "[d]isparate government treatment will survive a rational basis scrutiny as long as it bears a rational relation to a legitimate state interest." Id. (internal quotation marks omitted).
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