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Reed v. Campbell, 476 U.S. 852 (1986)
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General SummaryThis case is from a collection containing the full text of over 16,000 Supreme Court cases from 1793 to the present. The body of Supreme Court decisions are, effectively, the final interpretation of the Constitution. Only an amendment to the Constitution can permanently overturn an interpretation and this has happened only four times in American history.
Reed v. Campbell, 476 U.S. 852 (1986)
Reed v. Campbell No. 85-755 Argued April 30, 1986 Decided June 11, 1986 476 U.S. 852
APPEAL FROM THE COURT OF APPEALS OF TEXAS, EIGHTH
SUPREME JUDICIAL DISTRICT
Syllabus
Appellant’s father died intestate at a time when § 42 of the Texas Probate Code prohibited an illegitimate child from inheriting from its father unless its parents had subsequently married. Trimble v. Gordon, 430 U.S. 762, decided four months after the father’s death, held that a total statutory disinheritance, from the paternal estate, of children born out of wedlock and not legitimated by the subsequent marriage of their parents, is unconstitutional. Thereafter, appellant filed a claim to a share in her father’s estate, but it was denied by a Texas trial court. The Texas Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that Trimble does not apply retroactively.
Held: The interest, protected by the Fourteenth Amendment, in avoiding unjustified discrimination against children born out of wedlock, requires that appellant’s claim to a share in her father’s estate be protected by the full applicability of Trimble. There is no justification for the State’s rejection of the claim. At the time appellant filed her claim, Trimble had been decided, and her father’s estate remained open. Neither the date of the father’s death nor the date appellant’s claim was filed should have prevented the applicability of Trimble. Those dates, either separately or in combination, had no impact on the State’s interest in orderly administration of the estate. Pp. 854-857.
682 S.W.2d 697, reversed and remanded.
STEVENS, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.
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Chicago: U.S. Supreme Court, "Syllabus," Reed v. Campbell, 476 U.S. 852 (1986) in 476 U.S. 852 Original Sources, accessed November 24, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=ATH4MW873EQPGM1.
MLA: U.S. Supreme Court. "Syllabus." Reed v. Campbell, 476 U.S. 852 (1986), in 476 U.S. 852, Original Sources. 24 Nov. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=ATH4MW873EQPGM1.
Harvard: U.S. Supreme Court, 'Syllabus' in Reed v. Campbell, 476 U.S. 852 (1986). cited in 1986, 476 U.S. 852. Original Sources, retrieved 24 November 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=ATH4MW873EQPGM1.
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