El Souri v. Department of Social Services

We are asked in this case to deter mine whether a state agency’s policy concerning eligibility for welfare benefits creates a classification based on alienage, and, if so, whether the classification violates the equal protection provision of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. We answer in the affirmative with respect to each issue.

i

This suit arises from the denial by the Department of Social Services of plaintiffs application for general assistance benefits 1 on behalf of himself, his wife, and their three children. Plaintiff and his family, immigrants from Lebanon,…