Also known as: illegitimately · illegitimacy · illegitimacies
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
A child born to parents who are not married to each other. Such status triggers intermediate scrutiny when a statute classifies on that basis and must be substantially related to an important governmental objective.
A use of power or threat that is improper because it pursues ends unrelated to any legitimate interest of the threatening party or produces an unfair exchange.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
A child born to parents who are not married to each other. Such status triggers intermediate scrutiny when a statute classifies on that basis and must be substantially related to an important governmental objective.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A use of power or threat that is improper because it pursues ends unrelated to any legitimate interest of the threatening party or produces an unfair exchange.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Iain Irons, a nonmarital child, sought support after his sixth birthday. State law imposed a six-year cutoff only on nonmarital children while allowing marital children to sue at any time. The classification failed intermediate scrutiny because the state never showed the deadline was substantially related to preventing stale claims.
Ira Irving's father died intestate. State law barred nonmarital children from inheriting from fathers while permitting marital children to inherit from both parents. The absolute bar penalized Ira solely for his parents' marital status and was not substantially related to any important state interest in orderly estate administration.
Ingrid Innes, a seventeen-year-old male, was charged under a statute that criminalized intercourse only when the male was the older party. The classification rested on the physiological fact that only females can become pregnant. The court upheld it because the gender distinction was substantially related to the important interest of preventing illegitimate teenage pregnancies.
Classifications based on illegitimacy receive intermediate scrutiny and must be substantially related to an important governmental objective.
Supporting sources
No. An absolute bar is a punitive classification based on illegitimacy that violates equal protection because it is not substantially related to any important governmental interest.
Supporting sources
Ines Ibarra faced foreclosure in ten days and needed quick cash. An investor threatened to tell her employer and homeowners association about the foreclosure unless she signed a below-market contract that same afternoon. The threat exploited her lack of alternatives and produced an unfair price, rendering the threat a use of power for illegitimate ends under the duress doctrine.
India Inoue's family sought to remove her feeding tube after years in a persistent vegetative state. State officials insisted on continued treatment based on an abstract policy treating all life as equally valuable regardless of quality. The policy was illegitimate because it substituted the state's judgment for the family's intimate decision.
Isabelle Inman decided to terminate her pregnancy after careful private reflection. State law required her to wait twenty-four hours and hear a state-scripted message presuming her choice was wrong. The requirement rested on an illegitimate premise that the state could override an adult woman's considered judgment about her own life.
A threat is improper when the threatened act is a use of power for illegitimate ends, the resulting exchange is not on fair terms, and the threat leaves the recipient with no reasonable alternative.
Supporting sources
…not to suggest, at this point, that any of these cases should be overruled, or that the process by which they were decided was illegitimate or even unacceptable, but only to underline Mr. Justice Black's constant reminder to his colleagues that the Court has no license to invalidate legislation which it thinks merely arbitrary…