Rappaport v. Katz
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
380 F.Supp. 808 (1974)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
The city clerk of New York City, Herman Katz (defendant), instituted a dress code providing guidelines for wedding ceremonies at New York City Hall (City Hall) that were officiated by the clerk’s office. One such guideline required grooms to wear a coat and tie and brides to wear a dress or skirt. The guideline specifically prohibited brides from wearing pants. Two couples (plaintiffs), one who was married at City Hall and one who planned to be married at City Hall, brought suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging that the guideline violated their civil rights with respect to the fundamental right to marry and the freedom of expression. The brides wished to wear pants at their respective City Hall wedding ceremonies. The brides argued that wearing pants would protect them from historical sex-role stereotyping. Katz moved for summary judgment.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Pollack, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 777,000 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.
