Craig v. Boren

Craig v. Boren
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued October 5, 1976 Decided December 20, 1976
Full case name	Craig et al. v. Boren, Governor of Oklahoma, et al.
Citations	429 U.S. 190 (more) 429 U.S. 190; 97 S. Ct. 451; 50 L. Ed. 2d 397; 1976 U.S. LEXIS 183
Holding
To regulate in a sex-discriminatory fashion, the government must demonstrate that its use of sex-based criteria is substantially related to the achievement of important governmental objectives.
Court membership
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Associate Justices William J. Brennan, Jr. · Potter Stewart Byron White · Thurgood Marshall Harry Blackmun · Lewis F. Powell, Jr. William Rehnquist · John P. Stevens
Case opinions
Majority	Brennan, joined by White, Marshall, Powell, Stevens
Concurrence	Blackmun
Concurrence	Stewart
Concurrence	Stevens
Concurrence	Powell
Dissent	Burger
Dissent	Rehnquist
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. XIV

Craig v. Boren, 429 U.S. 190 (1976), was the first case in which a majority of the United States Supreme Court determined that statutory or administrative sex classifications had to be subjected to an intermediate standard of judicial review. (For more on different Equal Protection review standards, see the appropriate section in the article on the Equal Protection Clause.)

Facts

Oklahoma passed a statute prohibiting the sale of "nonintoxicating" 3.2 % beer to males under the age of 21 but allowed females over the age of 18 to purchase it. The statute was challenged as Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection violation by Curtis Craig, a male who was over 18 but under 21, and by an Oklahoma vendor of alcohol.

Issue

The Supreme Court was called upon to determine whether a statute that denies the sale of beer to individuals of the same age based on their gender violates the Equal Protection Clause. Additionally, the Supreme Court examined for jus tertii (third party rights), in this case the vendor of the 3.2% beer.

Result

Justice William J. Brennan delivered the opinion of the Court, in which he was joined by Justices White, Marshall, Powell and Stevens (Justice Blackmun joined all but one part of the opinion; Blackmun, Powell, Stevens, and Stewart wrote concurrences^[1]). The Court held that the gender classifications made by the Oklahoma statute were unconstitutional because the statistics relied on by the state were insufficient to show a substantial relationship between the statute and the benefits intended to stem from it. Furthermore, the Court found that analysis of the Equal Protection Clause in this case had not been changed by the subsequently passed Twenty-first Amendment.

The court instituted a standard, dubbed "intermediate scrutiny", whereby the state must prove the existence of specific important governmental objectives, and the law must be substantially related to the achievement of those objectives.

As to third party rights, the court, expanding on the doctrine of standing, held that the vendors of 3.2% beer will be economically affected due to the restrictive nature of the sales to males between 18 and 20. To have standing, one must show a "nexus" of the injury to themselves and the constitutional violation of the statute. In this case, the statute only directly affects plaintiff Craig. Only indirectly does it affect the vendor, Whitener, the third party. The Supreme Court explains that Whitener and other vendors have standing "by acting as advocates of the rights of third parties who seek access to their market or function".

Justice Blackmun wrote a concurring opinion, agreeing that a higher standard of scrutiny was appropriate.

Dissent

Chief Justice Burger and Justice Rehnquist dissented. Rehnquist dissented because he felt that the law only needed to pass the “rational basis” analysis. (Previous cases in this area, such as Stanton v. Stanton, had used only the "rational basis" test). Burger dissented because "a litigant may only assert his own constitutional rights or immunities." He felt that the indirect economic injury to Whitener and other vendors introduced "a new concept of constitutional standing to which I cannot subscribe."

See also

• Frontiero v. Richardson
• Gender equality
• List of gender equality lawsuits
• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 429

Further reading

• Gryski, Gerard S.; Main, Eleanor C. (1986). "Social Backgrounds as Predictors of Votes on State Courts of Last Resort: The Case of Sex Discrimination". Western Political Quarterly (University of Utah) 39 (3): 528–537. doi:10.2307/448346. JSTOR 448346. 
• Segal, Jeffrey A.; Reedy, Cheryl D. (1988). "The Supreme Court and Sex Discrimination: The Role of the Solicitor General". Western Political Quarterly (University of Utah) 41 (3): 553–568. doi:10.2307/448602. JSTOR 448602. 

References

1. ^ http://supreme.justia.com/us/429/190/case.html

External links

• Text of Craig v. Boren, 429 U.S. 190 (1976) is available from: Justia · Findlaw · LII