Home > Great American Court Cases > Levy v. Louisiana

Legal Citation: 391 U.S. 68 (1968)

Appellant
Adolph J. Levy

Appellee
State of Louisiana

Appellant's Claim
That a Louisiana law denying illegitimate children the right to recover damages for their mother's wrongful death violates the constitutional guarantee of Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Chief Lawyer for Appellant
Norman Dorsen

Chief Lawyer for Appellee
William A. Porteous III

Justices for the Court
William J. Brennan, Jr., William O. Douglas (writing for the Court), Abe Fortas, Thurgood Marshall, Earl Warren, Byron R. White

Justices Dissenting
Hugo Lafayette Black, John Marshall Harlan II, Potter Stewart

Place
Washington D.C.

Date of Decision
20 May 1968

Decision
The Court ruled in favor of Levy and...