Reed v. Reed

Reed v. Reed  was a court case from 1971 between separated couple Sally and Cecil Reed. Their son Richard Lynn Reed had died and both parents wanted the estate. The Idaho Probate Court ruled that males were preferred over females in custody of estates. The Supreme Court under Chief Justice Burger ruled this unconstitutional in the law's different treatment between the sexes. Reed v. Reed was the first time women's rights were considered protected by the fourteenth amendment.

The overlying issue of the case is sex discrimination. The Idaho probate judge appointed the estate to Cecil because had determined them equally entitled in all ways but sex. Sally Reed appealed the probate court order, claiming that section 1314 of the Idaho code violated the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Sally Reed appealed the Idaho Probate Court's decision which then went to the District Court of the Fourth Judicial District of Idaho. This court agreed with Sally and ruled that custody should be decided based on qualifications, not on sex. Cecil Reed then appealed this decision to the Idaho Supreme Court which rejected the previous court's ruling,

"Finding that Idaho's legislature had "evidently concluded that in general men are better qualified to act as an administrator than women," and that this was "neither an illogical nor arbitrary method devised by the legislature to resolve an issue that would otherwise require a hearing as to the relative merits . . . of the two or more petitioning relatives."

Sally Reed then appealed to the U.S. and was represented by Derr and many associated with the Women's Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, who argued that women were protected under the fourteenth amendment. Cecil Reed's lawyers defended Idaho's law. The Supreme court unanimously decided that women's rights were protected under the fourteenth amendment.

 The Burger Court consisted of:
William O. Douglas: supported unpopular political causes; commitment to individual rights
William J. Brennan Jr.: most liberal and influential judge on modern supreme court
Potter Stewart: ideologically conservative, yet often cast a centrist
Byron R. White: has a moderate reputation
Thurgood Marshall: liberal; commitment to equality
Harry A. Blackmun: sympathetic liberal
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger: advocated strict construction of interpretation of the Constitution; identified with conservative wing in the Warren court.

The court was unanimous in its decision that Idaho's Law was unconstitutional. The judicial implementation classified women's rights to be protected under the fourteenth amendment.

I agree with the decision made. Idaho's law was unfair and unequal. Men do not have any right to property over women simply because they are men. The case could have easily been decided based on merit, as it rightly would today.