Parham v. Hughes

Summary

The Court affirmed the judgment rejecting an equal-protection and due-process challenge to Georgia's wrongful-death statute, which allowed an unmarried mother to sue but required an unmarried father to legitimate the child before suing. The plurality concluded that the classification did not invidiously discriminate on the basis of illegitimacy or sex and was rationally related to Georgia's interest in avoiding fraudulent or multiple paternity claims. The due-process claim failed because the asserted statutory right to sue for wrongful-death damages was not explained as implicating a protected liberty or property interest. Justice Powell concurred in the judgment on the ground that the classification was substantially related to an important state interest, while Justice White, joined by three Justices, would have reversed because the statute imposed sex-based discrimination.