Facts—The city of Cleburne, Texas, denied a permit for a group home for the mentally retarded. The U.S. District Court upheld the ordinance and its application, arguing that no fundamental right or suspect class was at issue. By contrast, the…
Facts—Mexican American parents whose children attended elementary and secondary schools in a school district in San Antonio that had a low propertytax base challenged the Texas system of financing public education. The growing disparities between districts in population and taxable…
Facts—The Virginia Military Institute (VMI), a state-supported institution, offered an education to men but not to women. Women seeking admission un- der the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment initially lost in a U.S. District Court, which found that…
Facts—Petitioner, a female lawyer, was employed in 1972 as an associate in a large law firm in Atlanta. Respondent law firm was a general partnership and in 1980 consisted of fifty partners and approximately fifty lawyers employed as associates. Hishon…
Facts—Michael M., a seventeen-year-old male, was charged with violating California’s statutory rape law. The complaint, filed on behalf of the victim by her older sister, stated that on June 3, 1978, petitioner and Sharon, the alleged sixteen-year-old victim, met at…
Facts—Sharon Frontiero, a lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, sought dependency allowances for her husband. Dependency would have been assumed for a man in her position, but women were required to show that men depended upon them for one-half or…
Facts—Sally, a mother, separated from her husband and on the death of her adopted son filed a petition in the Probate Court of Ada County, Idaho. She sought to be named administratrix of her son Richard’s estate. Meanwhile the father,…
Facts—In May 1975, the Texas legislature revised its educational laws to withhold from school districts any state funds for the education of children who were not “legally admitted” into the United States and authorized local school districts to deny enrollment…
Facts—New York State has a law prohibiting aliens from serving as state troopers. Foley, an alien planning to become a naturalized citizen, applied to take the Civil Service examination to become a trooper but was denied the opportunity. A three-judge…
Facts—Takahashi, a Japanese alien ineligible for citizenship, brought suit for mandamus in the California Superior Court to compel issuance to him of a commercial fishing license. The commission denied him the license on the ground that a California law forbade…