Carey v. Quern

Employed recipients of Chicago General Assistance (CGA) received an automatic clothing allowance as part of their monthly grants, whereas unemployed CGA recipients received such grants only on an as-needed basis. Most often, unemployed recipients were not informed of the availability of this benefit. In November 1975, unemployed CGA recipients (the unemployed recipients) (plaintiffs) filed suit against the director of the Illinois Department of Public Aid (DPA) (defendant), seeking declaratory and injunction relief on the basis that DPA violated the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment by administering the clothing-allowance program in an arbitrary and capricious manner. In June 1976, DPA promulgated DPA Bulletin 76.19, announcing that, effective August 1, 1976, the DPA would provide unemployed recipients automatic clothing allowances as part of their monthly grants. The unemployed recipients argued that despite the policy change, nothing prevented the DPA from returning to the original policy in the absence of a court judgment against the DPA. The district court granted judgment in the unemployed recipients’ favor, determining that the DPA administered the as-needed clothing-allowance program arbitrarily and capriciously in violation of due process. The DPA director appealed, arguing that the promulgated program standards were sufficient to meet due-process requirements.