The history of cases before the United States Supreme Court in which minorities have sought relief from discriminatory state laws under the "equal protection clause" of the Fourteenth Amendment (and the "due process clause" of the Fifth Amendment for federal action) suggests that court action in this area has changed over time. Not only has court action regarding the use of the equal protection clause to protect minority rights changed over time, but that change has followed acceptable social attitudes by the majority population toward the minority population. While the title of this paper emphasizes the Burger Court, its broad goal is to show patterns of change by the Supreme Court beginning with cases from the mid-1800s. With the advent of the Burger Court, the courts have adopted four distinct grounds for viewing civil rights cases--the standard legal review, the "suspect classification" approach, the "strict scrutiny" principle, and the "fundamental interest" principle. The result of this shift is likely to be a reduction in the number of civil rights cases being heard. (Author/IRT)