Orr v. Orr

Rejected the premise that married women are necessarily dependent upon their husbands for financial support.

Lillian and William Orr divorced in Alabama on 26 February 1974. The decree directed William to pay Lillian $1,240 per month in alimony. Soon he either fell behind or stopped paying altogether, and Lillian brought contempt proceedings against him in the Circuit Court of Lee County, Alabama, demanding back payments.

In defense, William claimed that Alabama's alimony statutes violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, since they required only husbands--never wives--to pay alimony. Lillian believed the law was constitutional. The court agreed with her and ordered William to pay the back alimony plus Lillian's legal fees. William promptly appealed the judgment to the Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama.

On 16 March 1977, the court ruled that alimony laws--"designed" to help "the wife of a broken marriage who needs financial assistance"--were constitutional. The judgment against William must stand. William next petitioned the Supreme Court of Alabama for a writ of certiorari--an order that the lower court send the trial records to the superior court for review. In May, the state supreme court granted this writ--only to reverse itself six months later, saying the writ had been "improvidently granted." William then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case.