Where the challenged ordinance does not trammel fundamental rights or involve a suspect classification, the court presumes the constitutionality of the discriminatory classification. Garcia v. Albuquerque Pub. Schools Bd. of Educ., 95 N.M. 391, 622 P.2d 699 (Ct.App. 1980). In order to meet the requirements of the equal protection clauses of the United States and New Mexico Constitutions, the challenged classification must be rationally related to a legitimate state interest.
Instead, Petitioners cite two New Mexico Court of Appeals cases and one federal district court case that itself cites a third New Mexico Court of Appeals case. SeeE. Spire Commc'ns, Inc. v. Baca , 269 F. Supp. 2d 1310, 1323 (D.N.M. 2003) (citing Valdez v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 1998-NMCA-030, ยถ 6, 124 N.M. 655, 954 P.2d 87 ); Mieras v. Dyncorp , 1996-NMCA-095, ยถ 16, 122 N.M. 401, 925 P.2d 518 ; Garcia v. Albuquerque Pub. Schs. Bd. of Educ. , 1980-NMCA-081, ยถ 4, 95 N.M. 391, 622 P.2d 699. The Real Parties in reply make the apt observation that the cited Court of Appeals cases predate Breen and Griego .
Id. at 758, 887 P.2d at 752. See also Richardson v. Carnegie Library Restaurant, Inc., 107 N.M. 688, 693, 763 P.2d 1153, 1158 (1988); Espanola Housing Authority v. Atencio, 90 N.M. 787, 788, 568 P.2d 1233, 1234 (1977); Board of Trustees of Las Vegas v. Montano, 82 N.M. 340, 343, 481 P.2d 702, 705 (1971); Garcia v. Albuquerque Pub. Sch. Bd., 95 N.M. 391, 393, 622 P.2d 699, 701 (Ct.App. 1981). This line of cases is still valid as an expression of the minimum scrutiny test for equal protection challenges to classifications.
It is apparent that some retreat did occur in New Mexico by passage of the closed-end state tort claims act, but even that regression could not serve to justify the doubly regressive effect ulcerated onto justice for the injuries whenever now inflicted by this state. Garcia v. Albuquerque Public Schools Bd. of Ed., 95 N.M. 391, 622 P.2d 699 (1980). The Colorado court in Evans, 482 P.2d at 969-70 (footnotes omitted) related:
It is only when a public employee is acting within the scope of his employment and in furtherance of the business of a public entity that immunity and the Tort Claims Act have any relevance. See Garcia v. Albuquerque Pub. Schools Bd. of Educ., 95 N.M. 391, 622 P.2d 699 (Ct.App. 1980) (Sutin, J., specially concurring), cert. quashed, 95 N.M. 426, 622 P.2d 1046 (1981); cf. Candelaria v. Robinson, 93 N.M. 786, 606 P.2d 196 (Ct.App. 1980). Therefore, it is only when the public entity is itself acting through its employee with the right to control the manner in which the details of work are to be done, SCRA 1986, 13-403, that the Tort Claims Act comes into play.
Coyazo naturally urges us to apply the intermediate standard articulated by our Supreme Court in Trujillo v. City of Albuquerque, 110 N.M. 621, 623, 798 P.2d 571, 573 (1990) and Richardson v. Carnegie Library Restaurant, 107 N.M. 688, 698, 763 P.2d 1153, 1163 (1988). Defendants, just as naturally urge us to apply the rational basis test used by this court in Garcia v. Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education, 95 N.M. 391, 393, 622 P.2d 699, 701 (Ct.App. 1980) (holding that under a rational basis approach the Tort Claims Act grant of complete immunity to teachers and public school districts for claims arising from student disciplinary actions is constitutional), cert. quashed, 95 N.M. 426, 622 P.2d 1046 (1981). The contours of the various standards used by the courts to test the constitutionality of legislative enactments are fully explained in the very recent case of Alvarez v. Chavez, 118 N.M. 732, 886 P.2d 461 (Ct.App. 1994) and need not be repeated here.
Generally, the courts will not inquire into the wisdom of legislative or executive decisions, or substitute their views for those of other departments or entities. Cf. McGeehan v. Bunch, 88 N.M. 308, 540 P.2d 238 (1975) (held not within purview of court to question wisdom or policies of legislative enactments); see also Garcia v. Albuquerque Pub. Schools Bd. of Educ., 95 N.M. 391, 622 P.2d 699 (Ct.App. 1980). Although construction of the project may result in some damage or inconvenience to those individuals who reside or own property situated near or within the project area, the record indicates that hearings, studies, and planning conducted by the City spanned a period of over ten years; that the City held public hearings involving the project and considered a number of alternative locations and designs; that the City modified the site and design plans to accommodate environmental and noise problems; and that the City, state, and federal authorities were empowered by law to determine the feasibility and public necessity for the project as well as its location and design.
The Tort Claims Act was enacted in response to the judicial abolition of sovereign immunity and acts to protect the public treasury. Garcia v. Albuquerque Pub. Schools Bd. of Educ., 95 N.M. 391, 622 P.2d 699 (Ct.App. 1980). In so protecting the treasury, immunity is reenacted, subject to a number of limited exceptions, Sections 41-4-5 to -12, and governed by a number of procedural and substantive provisions, Sections 41-4-4 and -13 to -25.
The tests to determine the validity of a statute challenged under the United States and New Mexico equal protection clauses are the same. Garcia v. Albuquerque Public Schools Bd., 95 N.M. 391, 622 P.2d 699 (Ct.App. 1980). The test here, where the classification is not suspect and the statute does not go to fundamental rights, is whether the classification is reasonable.
Accordingly, our standard for reviewing the attendance law is whether it bears some rational relation to a legitimate state interest. Garcia v. Albuquerque Public Schools Bd., 95 N.M. 391, 622 P.2d 699 (Ct.App. 1980); see also Note, Home Instruction: An Alternative to Institutional Education, 18 J.Fam.L. 353 (1979); Note, Home Education in America: Parental Rights Reasserted, 49 UMKC L.Rev. 191 (1981); Stocklin-Enright, The Constitutionality of Home Education: The Role of the Parent, The State and The Child, 18 Willamette L.Rev. 563 (1982). It is in the first instance a legislative question as to whether a classification is reasonable.