Personnel Administrator of Massachusetts v. Feeney

Massachusetts gave veterans an absolute preference for state civil service jobs; Feeney (plaintiff), a non-veteran woman who scored higher than several male veterans on competitive exams, was repeatedly passed over for jobs in favor of those veterans. She challenged the statute as violating equal protection; the district court agreed the law disadvantaged women overwhelmingly but found its goals genuinely aimed at helping veterans, not at harming women, and still held it unconstitutional; the court of appeals affirmed.