Little v. Streater

Decided June 1, 1981. Warren Earl Burger delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 79-6779 · 452 U.S. 1 (1981) · Cited 419 times

Holding

In the circumstances of this case, application of 46b-168 to deny appellant blood grouping tests because of his lack of financial resources violated the due process guarantee of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Boddie v. Connecticut · 401 U.S. 371 (1971)
• Mathews v. Eldridge · 424 U.S. 319 (1976)
• United States v. Kras · 409 U.S. 434 (1973)
• Ortwein v. Schwab · 410 U.S. 656 (1973)
• Morrissey v. Brewer · 408 U.S. 471 (1972)
• Mullane v. Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co. · 339 U.S. 306 (1950)
• Stanley v. Illinois · 405 U.S. 645 (1972)
• Armstrong v. Manzo · 380 U.S. 545 (1965)
• Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee v. McGrath · 341 U.S. 123 (1951)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Mills v. Habluetzel · 456 U.S. 91 (1982)
• Ake v. Oklahoma · 470 U.S. 68 (1985)
• Kadrmas v. Dickinson Public Schools · 487 U.S. 450 (1988)
• Santosky v. Kramer · 455 U.S. 745 (1982)
• Lehr v. Robertson · 463 U.S. 248 (1983)
• Michael H. v. Gerald D. · 491 U.S. 110 (1989)
• Pickett v. Brown · 462 U.S. 1 (1983)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

Explore from here

Warren Earl Burger’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1981). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).