Hodgson v. Minnesota

SCOTUSCase
Litigants=Hodgson v. Minnesota
ArgueDate=November 29
ArgueYear=1989
DecideDate=June 25
DecideYear=1990
FullName=Jane Elizabeth Hodgson, et al. v. Minnesota, et al.
USVol=497
USPage=417
Citation=110 S. Ct. 2926; 111 L. Ed. 2d 344; 1990 U.S. LEXIS 3303; 58 U.S.L.W. 4957
Prior=Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
Subsequent=
Holding=
SCOTUS=1988-1990
Majority=Stevens (parts I, II, IV, VII)
JoinMajority=Brennan, Marshall, Blackmun, O'Connor
Concurrence=Stevens (part III)
JoinConcurrence=Brennan
Concurrence2=Stevens (parts V, VI)
JoinConcurrence2=O'Connor
Concurrence3=O'Connor
Concurrence/Dissent=Marshall
JoinConcurrence/Dissent=Brennan, Blackmun
Concurrence/Dissent2=Scalia
Concurrence/Dissent3=Kennedy
JoinConcurrence/Dissent3=Rehnquist, White, Scalia
Dissent=Stevens (part VIII)
LawsApplied=Minn. Stat. §§ 144.343(2)-(7) (1988)

"Hodgson v. Minnesota", 497 U.S. 417 (1990), was a United States Supreme Court abortion rights case that dealt with whether a state law may require notification of both parents before a minor can obtain an abortion. The law in question provided a judicial alternative.

Issue

The case concerned a Minnesota law. The law required notice to both parents of a minor before she could undergo an abortion; it also contained a judicial bypass provision designed to take effect only if a court found one to be necessary. [Greenhouse, Linda. Becoming Justice Blackmun. Times Books. 2005. Page 196.] Dr. Jane Hodgson, a Minneapolis gynecologist, challenged the law. The Eighth Circuit had ruled that the law would be unconstitutional without a judicial bypass, but that the bypass provision saved it. [Greenhouse, Linda. Becoming Justice Blackmun. Times Books. 2005. Page 197.]

The law made no allowance for the fact that half the children in Minnesota lived without both biological parents. [Greenhouse, Linda. Becoming Justice Blackmun. Times Books. 2005. Page 197.]

upreme Court Justice Positions

Justice O'Connor thought the two-parent requirement entailed risk to a pregnant teenager; she also said the rule failed to meet even the lowest standard of judicial review, a rationality standard. [Greenhouse, Linda. Becoming Justice Blackmun. Times Books. 2005. Page 197.]

Justice Kennedy pointed out the usefulness of the bypass procedure, as judges granted all but a handful of requests to authorize abortions without parental notice. [Greenhouse, Linda. Becoming Justice Blackmun. Times Books. 2005. Page 197.]

Opinion

There were five votes for each of two holdings. [Greenhouse, Linda. Becoming Justice Blackmun. Times Books. 2005. Page 197.] O'Connor, Stevens, Brennan, Marshall, and Blackmun formed a majority holding that the two-parent notice requirement was unconstitutional. [Greenhouse, Linda. Becoming Justice Blackmun. Times Books. 2005. Page 197.] O'Connor joined the Court's conservatives, however, to form a majority for the law being valid with the judicial bypass. [Greenhouse, Linda. Becoming Justice Blackmun. Times Books. 2005. Page 197.]

This case involved the first restriction on abortion that O'Connor voted to strike down. [Greenhouse, Linda. Becoming Justice Blackmun. Times Books. 2005. Page 197.]

See also

* Jane Elizabeth Hodgson
* List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 497

References

*caselaw source
case="Hodgson v. Minnesota", 497 U.S. 417 (1990)
enfacto=http://www.enfacto.com/case/U.S./497/417/
findlaw=http://laws.findlaw.com/us/497/417.html
* OYEZ Project " [http://www.oyez.org/cases/case/?case=1980-1989/1989/1989_88_1125 Hodgson v. Minnesota] "

References