May 21, 2012

In A Rare Moment Of Unanimity, Supreme Court Rules Against In Vitro Posthumous Kids

     From the New York Times: "Children conceived with a dead father’s frozen sperm are not entitled to Social Security benefits if they were not eligible to inherit property from him under state law, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Monday."
     Note that the children might have qualified had another state's law applied.

     Update: This case may not be over. From a footnote in the opinion:
Because the Third Circuit held that posthumously conceived children qualify for survivors benefits as a matter of federal law, it did not definitively determine “where [Robert] Capato was domiciled at his death or . . . delve into the law of intestacy of that state.” 631 F. 3d, at 632, n. 6. These issues, if preserved, may be considered on remand.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank god. A reversal here would have opened pandora's box.

Anonymous said...

Was that 42 USC section 402 or Section 202 of the Act... Just some proofreading there...

Anonymous said...

The Supremes got one right!