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In May, 2004,* the New York Times reported on a disturbing phenomenon in the People's Republic of China: Otherwise highly qualified applicants for government jobs are being turned down because they are too short (and often just barely so). As part of an effort to put the nation's "best face" forward in the global economy, Chinese ministries have adopted height and other aesthetics requirements.

In May, the New York Times reported on a disturbing phenomenon in the People's Republic of China: Otherwise highly qualified applicants for government jobs are being turned down because they are too short (and often just barely so). As part of an effort to put the nation's "best face" forward in the global economy, Chinese ministries have adopted height and other aesthetics requirements.

But the law even permits the Knicks to deny me a job as a popcorn vendor if, on purely aesthetic grounds, the team decides that it wants all of its male salespeople to be over six foot two. (The team would be engaging in sex discrimination if it applied the same height requirement to female popcorn vendors, but no provision of federal law prohibits favoring tall men over short men, along with tall women over short women).

How about state law? New York State law goes beyond federal law in prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, but not height. And although California's anti-discrimination law has been interpreted by that state's supreme court to bar all arbitrary and intentional discrimination, the New York law has not been read quite so broadly.

Will the federal Constitution help me obtain a position hawking popcorn in Madison Square Garden? Fat chance. Its equal protection clause only bars discrimination by the government, and the Knicks are not a state-run enterprise.

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Michael C. Dorf, a FindLaw columnist, is professor of law at Columbia University. His new book, "Constitutional Law Stories," is published by Foundation Press, and te Save lls the stories behind 15 leading constitutional cases.

 * Note, though this article is a few years old, the information is still accurate today.

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