Landmark Supreme Court Decisions that Changed American Families

On April 7, 2022, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed by a bipartisan group of senators to serve as the 116th Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Judge Jackson has a vast array of experience within the U.S. legal system and is well-qualified to join the highest court in the land. Her appointment marks a significant moment in history, as she will be the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court. 

In honor of Judge Jackson’s appointment and the recent launch of Z Family Law’s Appellate division, read about just a few of the landmark cases that have shaped families, and family law, in the United States over the last several decades by setting binding precedent for state courts. 

Loving v. Virginia

In 1958, Richard Loving, a white man, and Mildred Jeter, a woman of color, got married in D.C. Both were residents of Virginia, where interracial marriage was illegal, and so, when they returned home, they were charged with violating the state’s anti-miscegenation law. The pair were found guilty, and the trial judge offered them two options: a year in prison or a suspended sentence in exchange for the couple leaving the state for 25 years. The Lovings appealed their case, and in 1967, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision stipulating that Virginia’s anti-miscegenation law violated the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The aptly-named Loving case was a major civil rights victory, and the precedent it established laid the groundwork for other cases to come. Note, however, that it took another 30+ years for every U.S. state to repeal their anti-miscegenation laws – Alabama was the last in 2000. 

Griswold v. Connecticut

In 1961, Estelle Griswold and Lee Buxton opened a birth control clinic in New Haven, CT. The pair was subsequently arrested for providing contraceptive medication to women in violation of an 1879 law banning the use of any drug, medical device or other instrument to “further contraception.” They were convicted, but they appealed to the Supreme Court. In 1965, the Court handed down a 7-2 decision stipulating that, while “the right to privacy” is not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution, it can be inferred from several amendments in the Bill of Rights and thus, Americans are entitled to a right to privacy in certain “zones,” including marital relations. The Court stated that Connecticut’s laws against contraceptives violated a couple’s right to marital privacy and thus, the law was unconstitutional. The decision not only had important implications for future cases concerning the right to privacy, but also legalized contraceptive use throughout the entire U.S., empowering couples to decide when and how to create their families.

Troxel v. Granville

Troxel v. Granville was a landmark Supreme Court decision in which the court determined that parents have a fundamental right under the constitution to “direct the upbringing” of their children. The decision stems from a dispute between Tommie Granville, and her ex-in laws, the Troxels, who regularly saw their grandchildren for weekend visits until the death of their son, Brad (Granville’s ex husband and the father of the children in question). After Brad’s death, Tommie sought to limit the grandparents’ visitation to once a month, and a Washington State Court ruled that the grandparents were entitled to a specific amount of time with their grandchildren. Tommie appealed the ruling to the Washington State Supreme Court, which reversed the lower court decision and and in 2000, the Supreme Court affirmed her right to limit non parental visitation as consistent with “parents’ fundamental liberty interest in the care, custody and management of their children.” Troxel played an important role in states’ interpretation of laws granting visitation rights to grandparents. While many states emphasize the importance of maintaining natural familial relations to whatever extent possible, Troxel dictates that the rights of the parent to raise their children as they see fit overrides grandparents’ rights. 

Obergefell v. Hodges 

Obergefell v. Hodges was the culmination of six lower court cases from Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee regarding the constitutionality of same sex marriage. Each of the plaintiffs filed suit arguing that each state’s ban on same sex marriage violated the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. Each court found in favor of the plaintiffs, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed the decisions. The plaintiffs appealed to the highest court in the land and on June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court issued a groundbreaking opinion in Obergefell stipulating that state bans on same sex marriage were unconstitutional. Obergefell officially made marriage equality the national standard and the law of the land and was a huge step forward for LGBTQ+ individuals, and for the civil rights movement more generally, in the United States. 

SCOTUS is of course not the only appellate court in the nation, as every state has their own appellate court system, and state appellate court opinions set important precedent, too. The Appellate Court of Maryland publishes some of its opinions in bound volumes of the Maryland Appellate Reporter. These published opinions (also known as “reported opinions”) are recognized as precedential opinions that bind the state’s trial courts, unless overturned by the Court of Appeals. In contrast, unpublished/unreported opinions are only binding to the parties to that appeal. Whether an opinion is published or not, appellate courts are an essential part of the American judicial system, ensuring that the courts remain independent and impartial and that individuals have a right to review if the trial court made a legal or factual error in their case.  

Z Family Law Appellate Division

At Z Family Law, we recently launched our Appellate Division to give clients’ cases the second chance they deserve! Whether you’re a litigant looking to reverse a decision unfavorable to you, or a busy trial attorney seeking assistance with research, writing and/or oral argument, our team can help. We know appeals are complicated and time-consuming, but our season appellate advocates are dedicated to making the process as easy as possible. For more information about appeals and our wide range of appellate services for litigants and attorneys, please visit ZFLAppeals.com.