Rivera v. Minnich

The Pennsylvania statute governing proceedings brought against a defendant to establish his paternity of a child born out of wedlock specifies that the “burden of proof shall be by a preponderance of the evidence.”1 This appeal presents the question whether a determination of paternity by that evidentiary standard complies with the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. We agree with the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania’s conclusion that applying the preponderance standard to this determination is constitutionally permissible.

*576I

On May 28, 1983, appellee Jean Marie Minnich, an unmarried…