Facts—Connecticut’s “Megan’s Law” requires individuals convicted of sexual offenses to register with the Department of Public Safety (DPS) upon their release. The department makes an Internet registry available in which individuals can find the names and addresses of such individuals within their communities. The respondent, a convicted sex offender subject to the law, obtained a …
Facts—Lorelyn Miller was born to a Filipino-national mother in 1970, filed an application for U.S. citizenship in 1991, and was rejected. The next year a U.S. citizen named Charlie Miller who had served in the U.S. Armed Forces in the Philippines entered a “voluntary paternity agreement” specifying his paternity. The daughter’s reapplication was still denied …
Miller v. Albright, 523 U.S. 420; 118 S. Ct. 1428; 140 L. Ed. 2d 475 (1998) Read More »
Facts—Colorado voters adopted an amendment to the state’s constitution (Amendment 2) that prohibited all state and local legislation designed to protect homosexuals. The trial court issued a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the amendment; the Colorado Supreme Court decided that the amendment should be subject to strict scrutiny and remanded the case to the trial …
Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620; 116 S. Ct. 1620; 134 L. Ed. 2d 884 (1996) Read More »
Facts—The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) applied to state employees except for elected officials or those appointed to policy-making positions. Two Missouri state judges, who were required by state law to retire at the age of 70, argued that as officials appointed by the governor and subject to retention elections they were …
Gregory v. Ashcroft, 501 U.S. 452; 111 S. Ct. 2395; 115 L. Ed. 2d 440 (1991) Read More »
Facts—Vinson, a former employee, claimed that during her employment at the bank she had been subjected to sexual harassment. She worked at the bank for four years, was discharged in November 1978, and sued in the District Court, claiming that her supervisor had constantly subjected her to sexual harassment in violation of Title VII. The …
Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57; 106 S. Ct. 2399; 91 L. Ed. 2d 49 (1986) Read More »
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 U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decided that mental retardation was a “quasi-suspect classification” that …
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 property were responsible in part for the increasingly notable differences in levels of local expenditure …
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 the education at VMI had “substantial benefits,” including adding diversity to the Virginia state system …
United States v. Virginia, 518 U.S. 515; 116 S. Ct. 2264; 135 L. Ed. 2d 735 (1996) Read More »
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 alleged that her initial decision to join the firm was based on the possibility of …
Hishon v. King & Spalding, 467 U.S. 69; 104 S. Ct. 2299; 81 L. Ed. 2d 59 (1984) Read More »
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 a bus stop and soon moved away from their friends and began to kiss. Petitioner …
