Stanton v. Stanton - Significance, Challenging "old Notions", Dissent And A Postscript, Impact, Parental Responsibility, Further Readings

appellant william justices majority

Appellant

Thelma B. Stanton

Appellee

James Lawrence Stanton, Jr.

Appellant's Claim

That a Utah statute was discriminatory and therefore unconstitutional because it set the age of majority for females at 18 and males at 21, thus denying due process and equal protection as guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

Chief Lawyer for Appellee

J. Dennis Frederick

Chief Lawyer for Appellant

Bryce E. Roe

Justices for the Court

Harry A. Blackmun (writing for the Court), William J. Brennan, Jr., Warren E. Burger, William O. Douglas, Thurgood Marshall, Lewis F. Powell, Jr., Potter Stewart, Byron R. White

Justices Dissenting

William H. Rehnquist

Place

Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision

15 April 1975

Decision

That the basis for the statute's establishment of different ages of majority was not rational, and that it denied women equal protection under the law.

Related Cases

Royster Guano Co. v. Virginia, 253 U.S. 412, 415 (1920).
Reed v. Reed, 404 U.S. 71 (1971).
Schlesinger v. Ballard, 419 U.S. 498 (1975).
Craig v. Boren, 429 U.S. 190 (1976).
Stanton v. Stanton II, 429 U.S. 501 (1977).
University of California Regents v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 (1978).

Sources

Fast, Julius, and Timothy Fast. The Legal Atlas of the United States. New York: Facts on File, 1997.

Additional Topics

Stanton v. Stanton - Significance

Stanton v. Stanton followed Reed v. Reed (1971) in applying the standard of rationality to questions of preference for males. The latter had been the first case in which the Supreme Court directly challenged the issue of discrimination against females to the extent of declaring a state law invalid; with Stanton the Court solidified this stance. Together the cases helped usher in an era of increase…

Stanton v. Stanton - Challenging "old Notions"

After Thelma Stanton appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, James Stanton's counsel attempted to show the Court that she lacked standing for two reasons. In giving the opinion for an 8- 1 Court, however, Justice Blackmun rejected both of these arguments. First, James had posited that the support issue was moot because, by the time the case went before the Court, Sherri was 21 years old, having reache…

Stanton v. Stanton - Dissent And A Postscript

Justice Rehnquist offered dissent on the basis that the case before the Court was not a proper constitutional question. "This case," he wrote, "arises only because appellant and appellee made no provision in their property settlement agreement fixing the age at which appellee's obligation to support his son or daughter would terminate." The age-of-majority question had arisen because the Utah Supr…

Stanton v. Stanton - Parental Responsibility

When an adult commits a crime, or causes damage to property that belongs to someone else, that adult is held legally liable; but when a child is the responsible party, the question of liability is more involved. Most states have some sort of law governing the degree of a parent's financial responsibility for damage done by his or her child. Oregon and Louisiana have the most stringent laws, holdin…

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