Labine v. Vincent

Mr. Justice Brennan,

with whom Mr. Justice Douglas, Mr. Justice White, and Mr. Justice Marshall join, dissenting.

In my view, Louisiana’s intestate succession laws, insofar as they treat illegitimate children whose fathers have publicly acknowledged them differently from legitimate children, plainly violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court today effectively concedes this, and, to reach its result, resorts to the startling measure of simply excluding such illegitimate children from the protection of the Clause, in order to uphold the untenable and discredited…