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The philosopher William Frankena had some ideas about what determined the relevance of various aspects of a situation to questions about justice.

Here's what he said:

It is society's very concern for the good lives of its members that determines which differences and which similarities it must respect (and which are relevant to justice). A society need not respect those differences which have only an ad hoc bearing or none at all, on the good lives of their possessors -- for example, color of skin. But it must respect differences like preferring one religion to another, which do have a bearing on the individual good life. [Frankena, "The concept of Social Justice" in Social Justice, edited by Richard Brandt, p. 20]

Frankena seems to believe that each of us has an equal right to a good life. What is relevant in cases of justice is determined by what is necessary to respect that right.