State v. Flynt

The law is well settled that the government is subject to constitutional restraints in its choice of those whom it may prosecute. As long ago as Yick Wo v. Hopkins (1886), 118 U.S. 356, 373-74, the United States Supreme Court stated that although a “law itself be fair on its face and impartial in appearance, yet, if it is applied and administered by public authority with an evil eye and an unequal hand, so as practically to make unjust and illegal discriminations between persons in similar circumstances, material to their rights,” there is a denial of equal protection of the laws.

The…