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Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 601', '§ 2281', '§ 1253', '§ 602', '§ 602', '§ 602', '§ 1396', '§ 1695', '§ 630', '§ 602']

Dandridge v. Williams - 397 U.S. 471 (1970) :: Justia US Supreme Court Center
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Dandridge v. Williams - 397 U.S. 471 (1970)
Case	U.S. Supreme CourtDandridge v. Williams, 397 U.S. 471 (1970)Dandridge v. WilliamsNo. 131Argued December 9, 1969Decided April 6, 1970397 U.S. 471APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
(c) In its Social Security Amendments of 1967, Congress fully recognized that maximum grant regulations are permissible. Pp. 397 U. S. 482-483. Page 397 U. S. 472
This case involves the validity of a method used by Maryland, in the administration of an aspect of its public welfare program, to reconcile the demands of its needy citizens with the finite resources available to meet those demands. Like every other State in the Union, Maryland participates in the Federal Aid to Families Page 397 U. S. 473 With Dependent Children (AFDC) program, 42 U.S.C. § 601 et seq. (1964 ed. and Supp. IV), which originated with the Social Security Act of 1935. [Footnote 1] Under this jointly financed program, a State computes the so-called "standard of need" of each eligible family unit within its borders. See generally Rosado v. Wyman, ante, p. 397 U. S. 397. Some States provide that every family shall receive grants sufficient to meet fully the determined standard of need. Other States provide that each family unit shall receive a percentage of the determined need. Still others provide grants to most families in full accord with the ascertained standard of need, but impose an upper limit on the total amount of money any one family unit may receive. Maryland, through administrative adoption of a "maximum grant regulation," has followed this last course. This suit was brought by several AFDC recipients to enjoin the application of the Maryland maximum grant regulation on the ground that it is in conflict with the Social Security Act of 1935 and with the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. A three-judge District Court, convened pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2281, held that the Maryland regulation violates the Equal Protection Clause. 297 F.Supp. 450. This direct appeal followed, 28 U.S.C. § 1253, and we noted probable jurisdiction, 396 U.S. 811.
The operation of the Maryland welfare system is not complex. By statute, [Footnote 2] the State participates in the AFDC program. It computes the standard of need for each eligible family based on the number of children in the family and the circumstances under which the family lives. In general, the standard of need increases with each additional person in the household, but the increments Page 397 U. S. 474 become proportionately smaller. [Footnote 3] The regulation here in issue imposes upon the grant that any single family may receive an upper limit of $250 per month in certain counties and Baltimore City, and of $240 per month elsewhere in the State. [Footnote 4] The appellees all Page 397 U. S. 475 have large families, so that their standards of need, as computed by the State, substantially exceed the maximum grants that they actually receive under the regulation. The appellees urged in the District Court that the maximum grant limitation operates to discriminate against them merely because of the size of their families, in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. They claimed further that the regulation is incompatible with the purpose of the Social Security Act of 1935, as well as in conflict with its explicit provisions.
In its original opinion, the District Court held that the Maryland regulation does conflict with the federal statute, and also concluded that it violates the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection guarantee. After reconsideration on motion, the court issued a new opinion resting its determination of the regulation's invalidity entirely on the constitutional ground. [Footnote 5] Both the statutory and constitutional issues have been fully briefed and argued here, and the judgment of the District Court must, of course, be affirmed if the Maryland regulation is in conflict with either the federal statute or the Constitution. [Footnote 6] We consider the statutory question first, because, Page 397 U. S. 476 if the appellees' position on this question is correct, there is no occasion to reach the constitutional issues. Ashwander v. TVA, 297 U. S. 288, 297 U. S. 346-347 (Brandeis, J., concurring); Rosenberg v. Fleuti, 374 U. S. 449.
The argument is that the state regulation denies benefits to the younger children in a large family. Thus, the appellees say, the regulation is in patent violation of the Act, since those younger children are just as "dependent" Page 397 U. S. 477 as their older siblings under the definition of "dependent child" fixed by federal law. [Footnote 8] See King v. Smith, 392 U. S. 309. Moreover, it is argued that the regulation, in limiting the amount of money any single household may receive, contravenes a basic purpose of the federal law by encouraging the parents of large families to "farm out" their children to relatives whose grants are not yet subject to the maximum limitation.
It cannot be gainsaid that the effect of the Maryland maximum grant provision is to reduce the per capita benefits to the children in the largest families. Although the appellees argue that the younger and more recently arrived children in such families are totally deprived of aid, a more realistic view is that the lot of the entire family is diminished because of the presence of additional children without any increase in payments. Cf. King v. Smith, supra, at 392 U. S. 335 n. 4 (DOUGLAS, J., concurring). It is no more accurate to say that the last child's grant is wholly taken away than to say that the grant of the first child is totally rescinded. In fact, it is the family grant Page 397 U. S. 478 that is affected. Whether this per capita diminution is compatible with the statute is the question here. For the reasons that follow, we have concluded that the Maryland regulation is permissible under the federal law.
(Emphasis added.) Thus, the starting point of the statutory analysis must be a recognition that the federal law gives each State great latitude in dispensing its available funds. Page 397 U. S. 479
The States must respond to this federal statutory concern for preserving children in a family environment. Given Maryland's finite resources, its choice is either to support some families adequately and others less adequately or not to give sufficient support to any family. We see nothing in the federal statute that forbids a State to balance the stresses that uniform insufficiency of payments would impose on all families against the greater ability of large families -- because of the inherent Page 397 U. S. 480 economics of scale -- to accommodate their needs to diminished per capita payments. The strong policy of the statute in favor of preserving family units does not prevent a State from sustaining as many families as it can, and providing the largest families somewhat less than their ascertained per capita standard of need. [Footnote 10] Nor does the maximum grant system necessitate the dissolution of family bonds. For even if a parent should be inclined to increase his per capita family income by sending a child away, the federal law requires that the child, to be eligible for AFDC payments, must live with one of several enumerated relatives. [Footnote 11] The kinship tie may be attenuated, but it cannot be destroyed.
The appellees rely most heavily upon the statutory requirement that aid "shall be furnished with reasonable promptness to all eligible individuals." 42 U.S.C. § 602(a)(10) (1964 ed., Supp. IV). But since the statute leaves the level of benefits within the judgment of the State, this language cannot mean that the "aid" furnished must equal the total of each individual's standard of need in every family group. Indeed, the appellees do not deny that a scheme of proportional reductions for all families could be used that would result in no individual's receiving aid equal to his standard of need. As we have Page 397 U. S. 481 noted, the practical effect of the Maryland regulation is that all children, even in very large families, do receive some aid. We find nothing in 42 U.S.C. § 602(a)(10) (1964 ed., Supp. IV) that requires more than this. [Footnote 12] So long as some aid is provided to all eligible families and all eligible children, the statute itself is not violated.
This is the view that has been taken by the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW), who is charged with the administration of the Social Security Act and the approval of state welfare plans. The parties have stipulated that the Secretary has, on numerous occasions, approved the Maryland welfare scheme, including its provision of maximum payments to any one family, a provision that has been in force in various forms since 1947. Moreover, a majority of the States pay less than their determined standard of need, and 20 of these States impose maximums on family grants of the kind here in issue. [Footnote 13] The Secretary has not disapproved any state plan because of its maximum grant Page 397 U. S. 482 provision. On the contrary, the Secretary has explicitly recognized state maximum grant systems. [Footnote 14]
81 Stat. 898, 42 U.S.C. § 602(a)(23) (1964 ed., Supp. IV). (Emphasis added.) This specific congressional recognition of the state maximum grant provisions is not, of course, an approval of any specific maximum. The structure of specific maximums Congress left to the States, and the validity of any such structure must meet constitutional tests. However, the above amendment does make clear that Congress Page 397 U. S. 483 fully recognized that the Act permits maximum grant regulations. [Footnote 15]
Although a State may adopt a maximum grant system in allocating its funds available for AFDC payments without violating the Act, it may not, of course, impose a regime of invidious discrimination in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Maryland says that its maximum grant regulation is wholly free of any invidiously discriminatory purpose or effect, and that the regulation is rationally supportable on at least four entirely valid grounds. The regulation can be clearly justified, Maryland argues, in terms of legitimate state interests in encouraging gainful employment, in maintaining an equitable balance in economic status as between welfare families and those supported Page 397 U. S. 484 by a wage-earner, in providing incentives for family planning, and in allocating available public funds in such a way as fully to meet the needs of the largest possible number of families. The District Court, while apparently recognizing the validity of at least some of these state concerns, nonetheless held that the regulation "is invalid on its face for overreaching," 297 F.Supp. at 468 -- that it violates the Equal Protection Clause
If this were a case involving government action claimed to violate the First Amendment guarantee of free speech, a finding of "overreaching" would be significant, and might be crucial. For when otherwise valid governmental regulation sweeps so broadly as to impinge upon activity protected by the First Amendment, its very overbreadth may make it unconstitutional. See, e.g., Shelton v. Tucker, 364 U. S. 479. But the concept of "overreaching" has no place in this case. For here we deal with state regulation in the social and economic field, not affecting freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, and claimed to violate the Fourteenth Amendment only because the regulation results in some disparity in grants of welfare payments to the largest AFDC families. [Footnote 16] For this Court to approve the invalidation of.state economic or social regulation as "overreaching" would be far too reminiscent of an era when the Court thought the Fourteenth Amendment gave it power to strike down state laws "because they may be unwise, improvident, or out of harmony with a particular school of thought." Williamson v. Lee Optical Co., 348 U. S. 483, 348 U. S. 488. That Page 397 U. S. 485 era long ago passed into history. Ferguson v. Skrupa, 372 U. S. 726.
To be sure, the cases cited, and many others enunciating this fundamental standard under the Equal Protection Clause, have, in the main, involved state regulation of business or industry. The administration of public welfare assistance, by contrast, involves the most basic economic needs of impoverished human beings. We recognize the dramatically real factual difference between the cited cases and this one, but we can find no basis for applying a different constitutional standard. [Footnote 17] See Snell v. Wyman, 281 F.Supp. 853, aff'd, 393 U. S. 323. It is a standard that has consistently been applied to State legislation restricting the availability of employment opportunities. Goesaert v. Cleary, 335 U. S. 464; Kotch v. Board of River Port Pilot Comm'rs, 330 U. S. 552. See also Flemming v. Nestor, 363 U. S. 603. And it is a Page 397 U. S. 486 standard that is true to the principle that the Fourteenth Amendment gives the federal courts no power to impose upon the States their views of what constitutes wise economic or social policy. [Footnote 18]
It is true that, in some AFDC families, there may be no person who is employable. [Footnote 20] It is also true that with respect to AFDC families whose determined standard of need is below the regulatory maximum, and who therefore receive grants equal to the determined standard, the employment incentive is absent. But the Equal Protection Clause does not require that a State must Page 397 U. S. 487 choose between attacking every aspect of a problem or not attacking the problem at all. Lindsley v. Natural Carbonic Gas Co., 220 U. S. 61. It is enough that the State's action be rationally based and free from invidious discrimination. The regulation before us meets that test.
The judgment is reversed. Page 397 U. S. 488
Other schedules set the estimated cost of shelter in the various counties in Maryland. See id. Sched. B -- Plan A, p. 29; Sched. B -- Plan B, p. 30. The present schedules, which are substantially the same, appear in the Md. Manual of Dept. of Social Services, Rule 200, pp. 33, 35. Page 397 U. S. 489
In addition, AFDC recipients in Maryland may be eligible for certain assistance in kind, including food stamps, public housing, and medical aid. See, e.g., 42 U.S.C. § 1396 et seq. (1964 ed., Supp. IV); 7 U.S.C. §§ 1695-1697. The applicable provisions of state and federal law also permit recipients to keep part of their earnings from outside jobs. 42 U.S.C. §§ 630-644 (1964 ed., Supp. IV); Md. Manual of Dept. of Social Services, Rule 200, § VI, B(8)(c)(2). Both federal and state law require that recipients seek work and take it if it is available. 42 U.S.C. § 602(a)(19)(F) (1964 ed., Supp. IV); Md. Manual of Dept. of Social Services, Rul