Reed v. Reed, 404 U.S. 71

Supreme Court of the United States

1971

Chapter

5

Title

Equality and the Constitution

Page

621

Topic

Heightened Scrutiny and the Problem of Gender

Quick Notes

The parents of Reed were separated when Reed died intestate.  Both parents separately files to be then deceased sons administrator.  The judge appointed the father in light of the Idaho Statute saying males must be preferred to females. 

Violated the Equal Protection Clause

o         This preference violated the equal protection clause.

Idahos Arg

o         The preference eliminated an area of controversy when two or more persons, otherwise equally entitled, sought to administer an estate.

o         It would reduce workload of the court eliminating contests.

Court This is gender classification

o         This is the very kind of arbitrary legislative choice forbidden by the Equal Protection Clause.

Book Name

Constitutional Law : Stone, Seidman, Sunstein, Tushnet.  ISBN:  978-0-7355-7719-0

Issue

o         Whether a difference in the sex of competing applicants bears a rational relationship to a state objective that is sought to be advanced by the operation of the statute?

o         Whether it is a violation of the Equal Protection clause for a statute have a gender preference?

Procedure

Trial

o         The probate court appointed appellee father as administrator of the estate, relying on Idaho Code 15-312, 15-314 (repealed 1972) that gave preference within a designated class of persons to males over females

Idaho

o         the state supreme court upheld the constitutionality of the statutes

Supreme

o         The court held that Idaho Code 15-312, 15-314 violated the equal protection clause, U.S. Const. amend. XIV.

Facts

Discussion

Key Phrases

Rules

Pl -  Reed

Df -  Reed

Historical

o         This was the first Supreme Court Decision to invalidate a gender classification under the Equal Protection Clause.

Description

o         The parents of Reed were separated when Reed died intestate.  Both parents separately files to be then deceased sons administrator.  The judge appointed the father in light of the Idaho Statute saying males must be preferred to females. 

Chief Justice Burger

Violated the Equal Protection Clause

o         This preference violated the equal protection clause.

Idahos Arg

o         The preference eliminated an area of controversy when two or more persons, otherwise equally entitled, sought to administer an estate.

o         It would reduce workload of the court eliminating contests.

Court This is gender classification

o         This is the very kind of arbitrary legislative choice forbidden by the Equal Protection Clause.

14th Amendment XIV

14th Amendment XIV (Privileges and Immunities, Due Process, Equal Protection, Apportionment of Representatives, Civil War Disqualification and Debt (1868))

Section 1.  (Citizenship)

o   All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.

Due Process

o   No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States;

o   nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;

Equal Protection

o   nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Class Notes