Frontiero v. Richardson

Congress passed a law granting members of the armed services with dependents an increased housing allowance, as well as medical and dental benefits for their dependents. Under the law, a serviceman was permitted to claim his wife as a dependent, regardless of whether the wife was actually dependent. In contrast, a servicewoman was permitted to claim her husband as a dependent only upon a showing that her husband was actually dependent on the servicewoman for more than half of his support. Sharron Frontiero (plaintiff), a member of the United States Air Force, tried to claim her husband (plaintiff) as a dependent. Frontiero’s application was denied because she did not make the required showing of dependence. Frontiero alleged that the law violated the procedural and substantive requirements of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment by imposing additional procedural burdens on female servicemembers and extending dependency benefits to nondependent spouses of male servicemembers. Frontiero brought suit in federal district court against Secretary of Defense Richardson and others (defendants). A majority of the three-judge district court upheld the law, concluding that Congress might have believed the policy was economical and efficient because husbands were typically breadwinners and wives were typically dependent. The Frontieros appealed directly to the United States Supreme Court.