Buck v. Bell | |
---|---|
Argued April 22, 1927 Decided May 2, 1927 | |
Full case name | Carrie Buck v. John Hendren Bell, Superintendent of State Colony for Epileptics and Feeble Minded |
Citations | 274 U.S. 200 (more) 47 S. Ct. 584; 71 L. Ed. 1000 |
Case history | |
Prior | Buck v. Bell, 143 Va. 310, 130 S.E. 516 (1925) |
Holding | |
The Court upheld a statute instituting compulsory sterilization of the unfit "for the protection and health of the state." Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed. | |
Court membership | |
| |
Case opinions | |
Majority | Holmes, joined by Taft, Van Devanter, McReynolds, Brandeis, Sutherland, Sanford, Stone |
Dissent | Butler |
Laws applied | |
U.S. Const. amend. XIV | |
Superseded by | |
Skinner v. Oklahoma (partially, 1942) |
Part of a series on |
Eugenics in the United States |
---|
Buck v. Bell, 274 U.S. 200 (1927), is a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court, written by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., in which the Court ruled that a state statute permitting compulsory sterilization of the unfit, including the intellectually disabled, "for the protection and health of the state" did not violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.[1] Despite the changing attitudes about sterilization, the Supreme Court has never expressly overturned Buck v. Bell.[2] It is widely believed to have been weakened by Skinner v. Oklahoma, 316 U.S. 535 (1942), which involved compulsory sterilization of male habitual criminals (and came to a contrary result).[3][4] Legal scholar and Holmes biographer G. Edward White, in fact, wrote, "the Supreme Court has distinguished the case [Buck v. Bell] out of existence".[5] In addition, federal statutes, including the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, provide protections for people with disabilities, defined as both physical and mental impairments.