1. Frontiero v. Richardson, (1973)
2. Facts: The military had a practice of automatically allowing a dependence for wives, but females had to show that their husband was actually a dependent before getting dependent benefits. The government rationale was that since most women’s husbands are not dependent, but most men’s wives were, it was administratively convenient to put the burden on the wife of showing dependence.
3. Procedural Posture: Unknown.
4. Issue: Whether the practice violates the equal protection clause.
5. Holding: Yes.
6. Majority Reasoning: Sex is a suspect class. The nation has a long history of using the physical differences of the sexes, and the traditional dominance of men in society, to discriminate against women arbitrarily. Even people of different races were given more equality than women, and race has been made a suspect class. Since the sex characteristic frequently bears no relationship to the ability to perform or contribute, it deserves strict scrutiny. No law which has its basis in administrative convenience can withstand strict scrutiny.
7. Concurrence Reasoning: [Powell] stated that it was unnecessary in this case to characterize sex as a suspect classification because it could be easily decided on the authority of Reed. Also, the equal rights amendment was still pending, and this would represent a judicial pre-emption of the legislative function.
