Frontiero v. Richardson
E88590
Frontiero v. Richardson is a landmark 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case that advanced gender equality by striking down federal benefit rules that discriminated against female military service members.
Statements (53)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
United States Supreme Court case
→
gender equality case → landmark case → |
| appliedToStatesOrFederal |
federal government
→
|
| areaOfLaw |
civil rights law
→
constitutional law → military law → |
| arguedDate |
1972-01-17
→
|
| citation |
36 L. Ed. 2d 583
→
411 U.S. 677 → 93 S. Ct. 1764 → |
| concurringInJudgmentBy |
Harry A. Blackmun
NERFINISHED
→
Lewis F. Powell Jr. NERFINISHED → Potter Stewart NERFINISHED → |
| concurringOpinionBy |
Harry A. Blackmun
NERFINISHED
→
Lewis F. Powell Jr. NERFINISHED → Potter Stewart NERFINISHED → |
| constitutionalProvision |
Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause
→
|
| country |
United States
→
|
| court |
Supreme Court of the United States
→
|
| decisionDate |
1973-05-14
→
|
| defendant |
Elliot L. Richardson
→
|
| defendantOffice |
Secretary of Defense of the United States
→
|
| didNotParticipate |
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger
→
|
| dissentingOpinionBy |
William H. Rehnquist
→
|
| docketNumber |
71-1694
→
|
| fullCaseName |
Sharron A. Frontiero et al. v. Elliot L. Richardson, Secretary of Defense, et al.
→
|
| holding |
Statutory scheme that treated male and female service members differently for spousal benefits violated equal protection principles embodied in the Fifth Amendment
→
The federal government may not require female service members to prove their spouses’ dependency while granting male service members automatic dependency status for their wives → |
| impact |
limited the use of sex-based presumptions in federal benefit programs
→
|
| joinedByInPlurality |
Byron R. White
NERFINISHED
→
Thurgood Marshall → William O. Douglas NERFINISHED → |
| jurisdiction |
federal
→
|
| legalIssue |
equal protection
→
federal military benefits → gender discrimination → |
| majorityOpinionBy |
William J. Brennan Jr.
NERFINISHED
→
|
| plaintiff |
Joseph Frontiero
→
Sharron A. Frontiero → |
| pluralityOpinionBy |
William J. Brennan Jr.
NERFINISHED
→
|
| precedentStatus |
binding on all lower federal courts
→
|
| rearguedDate |
1972-10-17
→
|
| relatedCase |
Craig v. Boren
→
Reed v. Reed → United States v. Virginia → |
| significance |
advanced gender equality in U.S. constitutional law
→
one of the first Supreme Court cases to apply heightened scrutiny to sex-based classifications → |
| standardOfReviewDiscussed |
strict scrutiny for sex-based classifications
→
|
| standardOfReviewOutcome |
no single standard of review commanded a majority
→
|
| subjectMatter |
military spousal benefits
→
sex-based classifications → |
| yearDecided |
1973
→
|
Referenced by (3)
| Subject (surface form when different) | Predicate |
|---|---|
|
Equal Protection Clause
→
|
basisFor |
|
Frontiero v. Richardson
("Sharron A. Frontiero et al. v. Elliot L. Richardson, Secretary of Defense, et al.")
→
|
fullCaseName |
|
Reed v. Reed
→
|
relatedCase |