AI and National Security: Legal Challenges with Laurie Hobart

Understanding the Equal Protection Clause (EPC)

• ⚖️ The Equal Protection Clause, found in the 14th Amendment and applied to the federal government via the 5th Amendment, prohibits states and the federal government from denying equal protection of the laws to any person.
• 🔍 To prove an EPC violation, one must show discriminatory purpose, not just a disparate impact, meaning the government must have intended to discriminate.
• 📊 Courts apply different levels of scrutiny: strict scrutiny (for race, national origin, alienage), intermediate scrutiny (for gender, non-marital children), and rational basis review (for most other claims), with the government almost always winning under rational basis.

AI's Impact on Bias and Discrimination

• 🤖 AI systems trained on historical human data can amplify existing societal biases, leading to discriminatory outcomes in areas like risk assessments, bail, parole, and profiling.
• 🚫 Litigants face significant challenges in proving discriminatory purpose when AI is involved, especially in national security contexts where algorithms may be proprietary or classified.
• ⚠️ The