McEquality for all, Seattle

Does the 14th Amendment apply to all, or only to those for whom it is convenient?

Seeking to temporarily halt part of Seattle’s minimum-wage law from taking effect next month, the International Franchise Association told a federal judge Tuesday that the law discriminates against local franchisees.

Which is pretty hard to refute, in the face of the evidence produced by the franchisees' attorney;

[Paul] Clement cited an email from Nick Hanauer, a Seattle venture capitalist who served on the city’s minimum-wage-advisory committee, to council President Tim Burgess, calling franchises such as Subway and McDonald’s “not very good for our local economy … economically extractive, civically corrosive and culturally dilutive.”

That attitude is fine for an individual, said Clement, “but when a city embraces it as a policy, that runs square into the Commerce Clause. That’s 100 percent forbidden by the Commerce Clause. It’s not a permissible government objective.”

Ah yes, Nick Hanauer, witness for the plaintiffs.