Michael M. v. Superior Court of Sonoma County
United States Supreme Court
450 U.S. 464, 101 S.Ct. 1200 (1981)
- Written by Megan Petersen, JD
Facts
A California law defined statutory rape as sexual intercourse with a female under the age of 18 who is not the perpetrator's wife. Michael M. (defendant), a 17-year-old male, was charged with violating California’s statutory-rape law by having sexual intercourse with a 16-year-old female. He sought dismissal of his charges in California state court on the grounds that the statutory-rape law violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. The trial court denied his motion, and the Supreme Court of California affirmed. The state supreme court found that the statutory-rape statute discriminated on the basis of sex because only females could be victims, and only males could be charged with violating the statute. Nevertheless, the court concluded that the gender classification in the statute was justified by California's compelling state interest in preventing illegitimate teenage pregnancies. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Rehnquist, J.)
Concurrence (Blackmun, J.)
Concurrence (Stewart, J.)
Dissent (Brennan, J.)
Dissent (Stevens, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 788,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,200 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
