Home > Great American Court Cases > Trimble v. Gordon

Legal Citation: 430 U.S. 762 (1977)

Appellants
Deta Mona Trimble, et al.

Appellees
Sherman Gordon, et al.

Appellants' Claim
That Chapter 12 of the Illinois State Probate Act, which allowed illegitimate children to inherit property only from their mother in the event of their parents' death without a will, violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Chief Lawyer for Appellants
James D. Well

Chief Lawyer for Appellees
Miles N. Beermann

Justices for the Court
William J. Brennan, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Lewis F. Powell, Jr. (writing for the Court), John Paul Stevens, Byron R. White

Justices Dissenting
Harry A. Blackmun, Warren E. Burger, Potter Stewart, William H. Rehnquist

Place
Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision
26 April 1977