1 California Government Code §1031(a) requires “public officers or employees declared by law to be peace officers” to be citizens of the United States. Section 830 of the California Penal Code declares that deputy probation officers shall be classified as peace officers.

2 A three-judge court was properly convened, and appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court was available under the jurisdictional statute in effect at the time. 22 U.S.C. §§2281, 2284 (1976). The availability of three–judge courts has since been limited. Pub. L. No. 94–381, 90 Stat. 1119.

3 413 U.S. 634 (1973). Sugarman invalidated a New York statute that barred lawfully resident aliens from the competitive civil service on the ground that the statute was facially inconsistent with the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

4 Because the statute in Sugarman indiscriminately included certain menial jobs and omitted other important political functions, the Court held that the classification was too imprecise to be deemed a proper exercise of the state’s power to define its political community.

5 102 S.Ct. 735, 740 (quoting 413 U.S. at 647).

6 102 S.Ct. at 743.

7 Id. at 750 (Blackmun, J., dissenting).

8 Id. at 747 (Blackmun, J., dissenting, quoting 413 U.S. at 643).

9 Id. at 748 (Blackmun, J., dissenting, quoting 435 U.S. at 297). See also Ambach v. Norwick, 441 U.S. 68 (1979), 73 AJIL 683 (1979).