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State B operates a wildfire-rescue academy. Its rules provide that only male applicants may enter the "rapid extraction" track, because academy officials believe men are "naturally better suited to carrying heavy equipment under pressure." A separate rule requires every applicant, male or female, to pass a timed equipment-carry test using the same weighted pack. A final rule gives female firefighters six weeks of paid leave after the birth of a child but gives male firefighters no paid leave after the birth of a child, based on the legislature's statement that "mothers, not fathers, are the primary caregivers."
A female applicant who passed the equipment-carry test but was excluded from the rapid extraction track sues. A male firefighter who requested leave after the birth of his child also sues.
Analyze the equal protection challenges to the academy's sex-based track exclusion, the equipment-carry test, and the parental leave rule.