Lyng v. Castillo

Lyng v. Castillo
Argued April 29, 1986
Decided June 27, 1986
Full case nameLyng, Secretary of Agriculture v. Castillo et al.
Citations477 U.S. 635 (more)
106 S. Ct. 2727; 91 L. Ed. 2d 527; 1986 U.S. LEXIS 72
Case history
PriorAppeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas
Holding
The statutory definition of "household" did not violate the appellee's rights to due process.
Court membership
Chief Justice
Warren E. Burger
Associate Justices
William J. Brennan Jr. · Byron White
Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun
Lewis F. Powell Jr. · William Rehnquist
John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor
Case opinions
MajorityStevens, joined by Burger, Blackmun, Powell, Rehnquist, O'Connor
DissentBrennan
DissentWhite
DissentMarshall
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. V

Lyng v. Castillo, 477 U.S. 635 (1986), reversed a lower court's decision that the change in the statutory definition of a household violated the appellee's due process rights. The program rules for food stamps were changed in 1981 and 1982 which changed the definitions of households. The Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the District Court erred in using heightened scrutiny to analyze the validity of the household definition.

Earlier, the Supreme Court ruled in Department of Agriculture v. Moreno (1973) that a provision of the Food Stamp Act of 1971 was unconstitutional because a household, if an unrelated individual lived in it, would have its benefits reduced or eliminated.