Palmore v. Sidoti
United States Supreme Court
466 U.S. 429 (1984)
- Written by Megan Petersen, JD
Facts
Anthony Sidoti (plaintiff) and Linda Sidoti Palmore (defendant), both Caucasians, were previously married and had one child, a three-year-old daughter. After the couple divorced, Linda began cohabiting with and soon married Clarence Palmore, Jr., an African American. After learning of this, Anthony sought sole custody of their child in Florida state court from Linda. He cited “changed conditions” as grounds for his petition, as well as making several allegations of instances in which Linda had not properly cared for their child. After hearing testimony from both parties, the Florida court made no findings of fact indicating that the child had not been properly cared for by any of the parties involved. However, the court relied on the recommendation of a counselor and awarded custody to Anthony on the grounds that Linda had chosen a socially unacceptable lifestyle for herself and her child by marrying an African American man and was thus subjecting her child to racial stigma once the child entered school. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Burger, C.J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 811,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 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.
