Michael M. v. Superior Court of Sonoma County

Michael M. v. Superior Court of Sonoma County
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued November 4, 1980 Decided March 23, 1981
Full case name	Michael M. v. Superior Court of Sonoma County (California, Real Party in Interest)
Citations	450 U.S. 464 (more) 101 S. Ct. 1200; 67 L. Ed. 2d 437; 1981 U.S. LEXIS 83; 49 U.S.L.W. 4273
Holding
The statutory rape law of California did not violate the Equal Protection Clause.
Court membership
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Associate Justices William J. Brennan Jr. · Potter Stewart Byron White · Thurgood Marshall Harry Blackmun · Lewis F. Powell Jr. William Rehnquist · John P. Stevens
Case opinions
Plurality	Rehnquist, joined by Burger, Stewart, Powell
Concurrence	Stewart
Concurrence	Blackmun (in judgment)
Dissent	Brennan, joined by White, Marshall
Dissent	Stevens
Laws applied
Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment

Michael M. v. Superior Court of Sonoma County, 450 U.S. 464 (1981), was a United States Supreme Court case over the issue of gender bias in statutory rape laws. The petitioner argued that the statutory rape law discriminated based on gender and was unconstitutional. The court ruled that this differentiation passes intermediate scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause because it serves an important state goal, stating that sexual intercourse entails a higher risk for women than men. Thus, the court found the law justified.^[1]