The Archive
Reference Library
The founding document as written, a plain overview of the seven Articles, and a glossary of archaic and legal terms.
Back to Supreme Court Rulings
Sex & Gender Equality
Reed v. Reed
Decided: 1971
In brief
First case striking down a law for sex discrimination under the Equal Protection Clause.
The Court's ruling in depth
An Idaho probate statute automatically preferred men over women as estate administrators. A unanimous Court struck it down as arbitrary — the first time the Equal Protection Clause was applied to invalidate a sex classification. Reed launched the modern constitutional law of sex equality, in a case briefed for the ACLU by future Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.