Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center - Significance, Should Facilities For Mentally Retarded Persons Be Allowed In Neighborhoods?, Further Readings

petitioner decision permit justices

Petitioner

City of Cleburne

Respondent

Cleburne Living Center

Petitioner's Claim

That the decision to deny the Cleburne Living Center a zoning permit was constitutional.

Chief Lawyer for Petitioner

Earl Luna, Robert T. Miller, Jr., Mary Milford

Chief Lawyer for Respondent

Renea Hicks, Diane Shisk, Caryl Oberman

Justices for the Court

Harry A. Blackmun, Warren E. Burger, Sandra Day O'Connor, Lewis F. Powell, Jr., William H. Rehnquist, Byron R. White (writing for the Court)

Justices Dissenting

William J. Brennan, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, John Paul Stevens

Place

Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision

1 July 1985

Decision

The denial of a permit to the Cleburne Living Center was found to be based on prejudice and therefore unconstitutional.

Related Cases

Schweiker v. Wilson, 450 U.S. 221 (1981).
Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202 (1982).

Sources

Findlaw. http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/supreme.html. The Record Online, http://www.bergen.com/psouth/boardjc199807093.htm.

Additional Topics

Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center - Significance

The case helped improve rights of the mentally retarded. Handicapped or differently abled persons were at the center of the Supreme Court's decision in Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center. In July of 1985, the High Court ruled that the city of Cleburne, Texas, violated the U.S. Constitution when it denied a zoning permit to the Cleburne Living Center (CLC). The center applied for a zoning permit fo…

Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center - Should Facilities For Mentally Retarded Persons Be Allowed In Neighborhoods?

Opening a group home for mentally disabled individuals within family neighborhoods may cause significant controversy between the organization trying to establish housing for its potential residents, and the existing neighbors. The right to establish group homes within residential areas of a city or town is protected under the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968. This act provides greater access to ho…

Citing this material

Please include a link to this page if you have found this material useful for research or writing a related article. Content on this website is from high-quality, licensed material originally published in print form. You can always be sure you're reading unbiased, factual, and accurate information.

Highlight the text below, right-click, and select “copy”. Paste the link into your website, email, or any other HTML document.