PEER, DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WELFARE OF COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO, ET AL.
v.
GRIFFETH ET AL.

U.S. | 1980-04-14
No. 79-807
445 U.S. 970 Supreme Court of the United States (1980) Positive Treatment
Cited by 14 cases
Topics
Welfare Property Interest Due Process Clause Fourteenth Amendment

Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Welfare cases and more on FLexlaw

Dissent
Mr. Justice Rehnquist,

Mr. Justice Rehnquist,

dissenting.

The Court of Appeals has taken a significant step in this case to expand the ruling of this Court in Goldberg v. Kelly, 397 U. S. 254 (1970), a step that I believe merits plenary-consideration by the full Court. The question pertains to whether an applicant for state-mandated welfare benefits is entitled to a hearing under the procedural guarantees of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution before being denied welfare benefits for failure to meet the initial requirements imposed by state law. The California courts themselves, in Zobriscky v. Los Angeles County, 28 Cal. App. 3d 930, 105 Cal. Rptr. 121 (1972), have concluded that an applicant is not entitled to any hearing because, in the words of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, they “refused to find general relief to be a protected property interest.” Griffeth v. Detrich, 603 F. 2d 118, 121 (1979).

There has been much decisional law from this and other courts, and much scholarly commentary, as to what is a protected “property” interest under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, and what procedural guarantees are necessary under that Clause before one may be denied such a property interest. See, e. g., Goldberg v. Kelly, supra; Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U. S. 564 (1972); Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U. S. 319 (1976); Greenholtz v. Nebraska Penal Inmates, 442 U. S. 1 (1979); Van Alstyne, Cracks in “The New Property”: Adjudicative Due Process in the Administrative State, 62 Cornell L. Rev. 445 (1977). Obviously this Court cannot parse every state-lajjv provision to determine whether it creates a protected “property interest” under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. But here I believe the District Court put its finger on the significance of the case when it ruled against respondents, saying:

“Plaintiffs [respondents] argue that the pretermination evidentiary hearing required by the Supreme Court in Goldberg v. Kelly, 397 U. S. 254 . . . (1970) should be applied to protect denied applicants for General Relief in San Diego County. . . . Defendants oppose An extension of Goldberg's protection of terminated, recipients of welfare to denied applicants for General Relief. The Supreme Court has not ruled on the issue. Wheeler v. Montgomery, 397 U. S. 280, 284-285 . . . (1970) (Burger, C. J., dissenting).” (Emphasis supplied in part.) Griffeth v. Detrich, 448 F. Supp. 1137, 1139 (SD Cal. 1978).

Particularly when the only state appellate court to consider the question has concluded that there is no protected property interest under state law, this extension of Goldberg v. Kelly, supra, should receive plenary consideration by this Court.

Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus

Citator

Cited By

  • Holbrook v. Pitt, 643 F.2d 1261 (7th Cir. 1981)
    …x, 442 U.S. 1, 99 S.Ct. 2100, 60 L.Ed.2d 668 (1979) (parole applicant); Willner v. Committee on Character & Fitness, 373 U.S. 96, 83 S.Ct. 1175, 10 L.Ed.2d 224 (1967) (bar applicant); Griffeth v. Detrich, 603 F. 2d 118 (9th Cir. 1979), cert. denied, 445 U.S. 970, 100 S.Ct. 1348, 64 L.Ed.2d 247 (1980) (general assistance applicants); Larry v. Lawler, 605 F. 2d 954 (7th Cir. 1978) (federal employment applicant); Carey v. Quern, 588 F. 2d 230 (7th Cir. 1978) (general assistance applicants); Wright v. Califano,…
  • Jacobson v. Hannifin, 627 F.2d 177 (9th Cir. 1980)
    …r the Nevada Gaming Control Act, [*180] Nev. Rev. Stat., ch. 463, provides in Jacobson an expectation of entitlement to a license sufficient to create a property interest. See Griffeth v. Detrich, 603 F. 2d 118, 120-21 (9th Cir. 1979), cert. denied, 445 U.S. 970, 100 S.Ct. 1348, 64 L.Ed.2d 247 (1980). That will depend largely upon the extent to which the statute contains mandatory language that restricts the discretion of the Commission to deny licenses to applicants who claim to meet minimum eligibility re…
  • Mahone v. Addicks Util. Dist. OF Harris Cnty., 836 F.2d 921 (5th Cir. 1988)
    …hose cases which hold that applicants for welfare benefits are entitled to due process protection. See Daniels v. Woodbury County, Iowa, 742 F. 2d 1128, 1132-33 (8th Cir.1984); Griffeth v. Detrich, 603 F. 2d 118, 120-22 (9th Cir.1979), cert. denied, 445 U.S. 970, 100 S.Ct. 1348, 64 L.Ed.2d 247 (1980); Johnston v. Shaw, 556 F.Supp. 406, 412-13 (N.D.Tex.1982). See also Gregory v. Town of Pittsfield, 470 U.S. 1018, 105 S.Ct. 1380, 84 L.Ed.2d 399 (1985) (O’Connor, J„ joined by Brennan and Marshall, JJ., dissent…
    1 / 2

Previewing 3 of 7 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw