Linda R. S. v. Richard D.

Summary

The Supreme Court affirmed a three-judge District Court's dismissal for want of standing of a suit by the mother of an illegitimate child challenging, under the Equal Protection Clause, a Texas district attorney's refusal to enforce the criminal nonsupport statute, Art. 602, against fathers of illegitimate children. Applying the requirements of concrete injury and a direct nexus between the litigant's status and the claim, the Court held that a private citizen lacks a judicially cognizable interest in the prosecution or nonprosecution of another, and that because Art. 602 creates a completed offense punished by fixed imprisonment, any support flowing from prosecution would be merely speculative. The Court expressly declined to reach the equal protection merits. Justice White, dissenting, joined by Justice Douglas, would have found standing and reversed; Justice Blackmun, dissenting, joined by Justice Brennan, would have remanded for clarification of the litigation's status in light of Gomez v. Perez.