Graham v. Richardson

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding that aliens constitute a specific minority deserving enhanced judicial protection and making alienage a suspect classification under the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution
• concluding that a state’s withholding of welfare benefits from lawfully admitted resident aliens who later become indigent “impose[s] auxiliary burdens upon the entrance or residence of aliens” not contemplated by Congress
• noting that “the justification of limiting expenses is particularly inappropriate and unreasonable when the discriminated class consists of aliens”
• stating that classifications based on race, alienage, and national origin “are inherently suspect and subject to close judicial scrutiny”
• recognizing citizens and aliens are entitled to equal protection of the laws of the state in which they reside
• stating that “this Court now has rejected the concept that constitutional rights turn upon whether a governmental benefit is characterized as a ‘right’ or as a ‘privilege’”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).