Home > Great American Court Cases > DeShaney v. Winnebago County Department of Social Services

Legal Citation: 489 U.S. 189 (1989)

Petitioner
Melody DeShaney for her son, Joshua DeShaney

Respondant
Winnebago County Department of Social Services

Petitioner's Claim
That the social workers and the county had violated Joshua DeShaney's right to due process under the Fourteenth Amendment by its failure to intervene to protect Joshua from his father's violence.

Chief Lawyer for Petitioner
Donald J. Sullivan

Chief Lawyer for Respondant
Mark J. Mingo

Justices for the Court
Anthony M. Kennedy, Sandra Day O'Connor, William H. Rehnquist (writing for the Court), Antonin Scalia, John Paul Stevens, Byron R. White

Justices Dissenting
Harry A. Blackmun, William J. Brennan, Jr., Thurgood Marshall

Place
Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision
22 February 1989