Dec 11, 2020
In this inaugural episode of Notorious: The Legal Legacy of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, we discuss the 1971 case of Reed v. Reed. The case addressed an Idaho statute, which favored males over females as administrators of estates. Petitioner Sally Reed sought to be named administrator of her deceased son’s estate in lieu of her estranged husband. The brief on behalf of Sally Reed was co-authored by then Rutgers Law School Professor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the American Civil Liberties Union, among others.
In what would be a landmark decision, the United States Supreme Court held for the first time that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibited disparate treatment based on gender.
Corey Brettschneider, a professor at Brown University and editor of Decisions and Dissents of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Selection, along with Patterson Belknap attorneys Michelle Bufano, Alejandro Cruz, and Julia Livingston discuss the significance of this case to subsequent Supreme Court cases and to the history of our nation as a whole.
Related Resources:
For a selection of Justice Ginsburg’s writings, see Decisions and Dissents of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Selection, edited by Corey Brettschneider.
For more information about Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, see www.pbwt.com.
For information about becoming a guest on Notorious, email Michelle Bufano.
For questions or more information about Notorious, email Jenni Dickson.
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