Michael M. v. Superior Court of Sonoma County (california, Real Party in Interest)

Decided March 23, 1981. William Hubbs Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 79-1344 · 450 U.S. 464 (1981) · Cited 352 times

We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.

How the Justices voted

“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.

• Craig v. Boren · 429 U.S. 190 (1976)
• Carey v. Population Services International · 431 U.S. 678 (1977)
• Orr v. Orr · 440 U.S. 268 (1979)
• Caban v. Mohammed · 441 U.S. 380 (1979)
• Califano v. Goldfarb · 430 U.S. 199 (1977)
• Kahn v. Shevin · 416 U.S. 351 (1974)
• Parham v. Hughes · 441 U.S. 347 (1979)
• Califano v. Webster · 430 U.S. 313 (1977)
• Reed v. Reed · 404 U.S. 71 (1971)
• Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld · 420 U.S. 636 (1975)
• Schlesinger v. Ballard · 419 U.S. 498 (1975)
• Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp. · 429 U.S. 252 (1977)
• United States v. O'Brien · 391 U.S. 367 (1968)
• Frontiero v. Richardson · 411 U.S. 677 (1973)
• Reitman v. Mulkey · 387 U.S. 369 (1967)
• Palmer v. Thompson · 403 U.S. 217 (1971)
• Griswold v. Connecticut · 381 U.S. 479 (1965)
• Brown v. Board of Education · 347 U.S. 483 (1954)
• Dandridge v. Williams · 397 U.S. 471 (1970)
• San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez · 411 U.S. 1 (1973)
• Washington v. Davis · 426 U.S. 229 (1976)
• Williamson v. Lee Optical of Oklahoma, Inc. · 348 U.S. 483 (1955)
• Prince v. Massachusetts · 321 U.S. 158 (1944)
• Eisenstadt v. Baird · 405 U.S. 438 (1972)
• Harris v. McRae · 448 U.S. 297 (1980)
• Ginsberg v. New York · 390 U.S. 629 (1968)
• General Electric Co. v. Gilbert · 429 U.S. 125 (1976)
• Planned Parenthood of Central Missouri v. Danforth · 428 U.S. 52 (1976)
• Plessy v. Ferguson · 163 U.S. 537 (1896)
• Fullilove v. Klutznick · 448 U.S. 448 (1980)

Cited by

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

• United States v. Windsor · 570 U.S. 744 (2013)
• United States v. Virginia · 518 U.S. 515 (1996)
• Rostker v. Goldberg · 453 U.S. 57 (1981)
• KIRCHBERG v. FEENSTRA Et Al. · 450 U.S. 455 (1981)
• City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc. · 473 U.S. 432 (1985)
• United States v. Skrmetti · 605 U.S. 495 (2025)
• Hunter v. Underwood · 471 U.S. 222 (1985)
• Metro Broadcasting, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 497 U.S. 547 (1990)
• Miller v. Albright · 523 U.S. 420 (1998)

Official text

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

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Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). 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).