Equal Protection. Adela Izquierdo Prieto, age forty-two, had worked for a government-owned and -operated radio and television station in Puerto Rico for over a decade when, without any prior notice, she was suddenly transferred from her television

Question

program to a position in radio. Her replacement in the television program was a twenty-eight-year-old woman with less experience. Agustin Mercado Rosa, the administrator of the television channel, explained to a newspaper reporter that Izquierdo was removed because "we need new faces" and because Izquierdo's replacement "is young, attractive and refreshing." Izquierdo sued Mercado, alleging in part that the transfer discriminated against her on the basis of age and therefore violated her rights under the equal protection clause. Mercado claimed that the transfer was rationally related to furthering a legitimate state interest in maximizing viewership for the public television channel and therefore was a permissible action. Will the court agree with Mercado? (In forming your answer, disregard the fact that Prieto could have sued Mercado under a federal law prohibiting age discrimination in employment. She based her claim only on the equal protection clause. The sole issue here is whether the state's interest was sufficient to justify replacing Prieto.)

Answer 1

Equal protection
The court agreed with Izquierdo. Mercado appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, which reversed this decision. Under the rational-basis test, the question was whether there was any rational basis under which Mercado's actions related to a legitimate state in-terest. Mercado's ostensible objective was to replace Ms. Izquierdo with someone with greater audience appeal. The court stated that "Mr. Mercado could have rationally believed that having ‘new [and young] faces' would maximize audience drawing power." The purpose of public television "includes serving the public by providing increased access to information and enhanced opportunities for education. Benefit to the public as a whole is maximized the more people take advantage of the services provided. Thus, to maximize viewership by making programs as appealing as possible is a legitimate objective in the operation of government-owned television stations."