1. Kahn v. Shevin, (1974)
2. Facts: A state property tax exemption existed for widows, but not for widowers.
3. Procedural Posture: Unknown.
4. Issue: Whether the “benign” gender classification in favor of women promoted by the state statute is a violation of equal protection, and under what standard should the court scrutinize it.
5. Holding: No. Rational basis.
6. Reasoning: The law was easily sustainable because it rested upon some ground of difference having a “fair and substantial relation” to the subject of the legislation. Laws designed to rectify the effects of past discrimination against women are justifiable.
7. Dissent Reasoning: [Brennan] urged “close judicial scrutiny” of even benign gender classifications. Although the law served a “compelling governmental interest,” the classification was not narrow enough to effect that interest alone. Less drastic means were available to remedy the history of discrimination, i.e. the state could have limited the exemption to only those widows who needed it.
8. Notes: In Orr v. Orr, by applying intermediate scrutiny, the court struck down laws which authorized the Alabama courts to impose alimony obligations on husbands but not wives. Since alimony hearings were already being conducted, they could also be used to determine the wife’s obligations, if any. The law was based on prohibited stereotypes. However, in Califano v. Webster, also under intermediate scrutiny, the court upheld a benign gender classification that allowed women to discard three more of the lower-paying employment years than men when determining social security benefits, as a legitimate way of redressing the past effects of discrimination against women in their wages. However, in Schlesinger v. Ballard, the court upheld a difference in promotional standards between male and female Naval Officers, stating that the male and femal officers were not similarly situated. In Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld, the court invalidated a social security provision that paid death benefits to the widow and children in case of the father’s death, but only to the children in case of the mother’s death, finding that it actually discriminated against women by providing them less post-death benefits than a similarly situated male. Similarly, in Califano v. Goldfarb, the court struck down a similar statute that required the widower to show that he got at least half of his support from his deceased wife in order to obtain her death benefits.
