Stanton

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Stanton v. Stanton, 421 U.S. 7 (1975), argued 19 Feb. 1975, decided 15 Apr. 1975 by vote of 8 to 1; Blackmun for the Court, Rehnquist in dissent. Stanton was one of several sex discrimination cases decided in the period between Reed v. Reed (1971) and Craig v. Boren (1976) in which the Court majority purported to be applying a rational basis test but declared void a statute that legislators and other judges had nonetheless found rational. The statute here declared unconstitutional, as a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, had mandated a twenty‐one‐year age of majority for males and an eighteen‐year age of majority for females.

Thelma Stanton, ex‐wife of James Stanton, had brought suit when he ceased child support payments for their daughter Sherri upon the latter's eighteenth birthday. The Supreme Court of Utah had rejected her claim on the grounds that the statute had a reasonable basis: girls tend to mature physically, mentally, and emotionally before boys, and also, since men must provide for their families, they need time to acquire an education for that responsibility.

Justice Harry Blackmun, for the Court, denied that the statute was rational. He insisted that coeducation is a fact and that women are increasingly present in business and the professions. He said that the court failed to perceive the “unquestioned truth” of females' tendency to earlier maturity or its relevance to the need for child support (p. 15).

Justice William Rehnquist's dissent argued that Thelma Stanton's claim arose out of a voluntary property settlement at divorce, which could have specified any age whatever to terminate support payments, and therefore the issue of the constitutionality of the age of majority law was not properly before the Court.

See also Equal Protection; Gender.

Leslie Friedman Goldstein

Stanton, a common name, usually ‘farmstead on stony ground’, occasionally ‘farmstead near standing stones’, OE stān + tūn; examples include: Stanton Glos. Stantone 1086 (DB). Stanton Suffolk. Stantuna 1086 (DB). Stanton Drew B. & NE. Som. Stantone 1086 (DB), Stanton Drogonis 1253. Manorial affix from possession by one Drogo or Drew in 1225. Stanton Harcourt Oxon. Stantone 1086 (DB), Stantone Harecurt c.1275. Manorial affix from the de Harecurt family, here in the 12th cent. Stanton, Long Cambs. Stantune 1086 (DB), Long Stanton 1282. Affix refers to the length of the village. Stanton St Quintin Wilts. Stantone 1086 (DB), Staunton St Quintin 1283. Manorial affix from the de Sancto Quintino family, here in the 13th cent. Stanton upon Hine Heath Shrops. Stantune 1086 (DB), Staunton super Hyne Heth 1327. Affix means ‘heath of the household servants’, ME hine + hethe.

Stanton city (1990 pop. 30,491), Orange co., SW Calif., SW of Anaheim; inc. 1956. The city's population grew rapidly in the late 20th century. Manufactures include electrical and electronic goods, signs, computer equipment, building materials, and plastics. There are also tool-and-die and metal-processing industries.