From our private database of 35,600+ case briefs...
Pavan v. Smith
United States Supreme Court
137 S. Ct. 2075 (2017)
Facts
Terrah Pavan and Marisa Pavan (plaintiffs) were married and conceived a child through anonymous sperm donation. Terrah was the birth mother of the child. In filling out the child’s birth certificate, the Pavans listed both spouses as parents. The Arkansas Department of Health issued a birth certificate with only Terrah’s name as the parent. An Arkansas state law required that, subject to certain exceptions, when a woman is married at the time of conception or birth, the woman’s husband’s name must be listed as the father on the child’s birth certificate. The Pavans brought suit against the state (defendant), claiming that the state’s implementation of the law violated the Constitution under the holding of Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. ___ (2015), which granted same-sex couples the right to marriage on the same terms and conditions as opposite-sex couples. The Arkansas Supreme Court upheld the law. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Per curiam)
Dissent (Gorsuch, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 618,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 35,600 briefs, keyed to 984 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.
