fundamental rights and suspect classificatinons relate to discrimination and segreagation how?

Answer 1

In all discrimination cases, the main question is what standard of review should be applied. The simplest is Rational Basis -- anything goes, as long as there is any legal excuse for having the law. The toughest is Strict Scrutiny -- the regulation fails unless there is no other possible way the state could have done what it was trying to do, and what the state was trying to do must have been very important. Those aren't the legal definitions, but close enough.

In any situation where the discrimination involves who can exercise fundamental rights, Strict Scrutiny applies. That's a function of Substance Due Process. For other rights that are not fundamental, lesser standards apply. So, for example, the right to eat fatty foods is not a fundamental right, so can be regulated more easily than the right to worship in the privacy of your home, which is fundamental.

Also, where the discrimination involves a suspect class (race, ancestry, national origin), again Strict Scrutiny applies. Other discrimination is subject to lesser standards. So, a law which discriminates (meaning, operates differently or treats people differently) based on race is less likely to be found valid than a law which operates based on what college degrees someone has, since college education is not a suspect class.