平等保护条款(英語:Equal Protection Clause),是美国法律术语,它保障了所有人民在法律之前均可得到同等的对待。这个条款来自美国宪法第十四修正案中,保障每名美国公民不被各州的州政府剥夺依法律享有的公民权利,以確保永久廢除奴隸制。此條款在1954年布朗訴托皮卡教育局案後,被應用於各種牽涉公民權利的官司,包括具爭議性的1973年容許墮胎全國合法化的羅訴韋德案(Roe v. Wade)。
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
^Failinger, Marie. Equal protection of the laws. Schultz, David Andrew (编). The Encyclopedia of American Law. Infobase: 152–53. 2009. ISBN 9781438109916. (原始内容存档于July 24, 2020). The equal protection clause guarantees the right of "similarly situated" people to be treated the same way by the law.
^Fair Treatment by the Government: Equal Protection. GeorgiaLegalAid.org. Carl Vinson Institute of Government at University of Georgia. July 30, 2004 [July 24, 2020]. (原始内容存档于March 20, 2020). The basic intent of equal protection is to make sure that people are treated as equally as possible under our legal system. For example, it is to see that everyone who gets a speeding ticket will face the samEpocedures . A further intent is to ensure that all Americans are provided with equal opportunities in education, employment, and other areas. The U.S. Constitution makes a similar provision in the Fourteenth Amendment. It says that no state shall make or enforce any law that will "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law." These provisions require the government to treat persons equally and impartially.
^Equal Protection. Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School. [July 24, 2020]. (原始内容存档于June 22, 2020). Equal Protection refers to the idea that a governmental body may not deny people equal protection of its governing laws. The governing body state must treat an individual in the same manner as others in similar conditions and circumstances.