Burns v. Alcala

420 U.S. 575 · Decided March 18, 1975 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Burns v. Alcala was decided on March 18, 1975 by a vote of 7–1. The Court reversed the lower court's decision and remanded the case. Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Poverty law, statutory welfare benefits” in the Civil Rights area.

Read the opinion

• CourtListener (Free Law Project) — opinion text
• Library of Congress — official U.S. Reports scan

Case details

How the Justices voted

Did not participate: William O. Douglas.

Full case caption

Burns, Commissioner, Department of Social Services of Iowa, et al. v. Alcala et al.

SCDB identifiers: case 1974-067, docket 1974-067-01.

Related decisions

Other cases on “Poverty law, statutory welfare benefits”

• Lascaris v. Shirley
  420 U.S. 730Decided March 19, 19756–3Per curiam
• Van Lare v. Hurley
  421 U.S. 338Decided May 19, 19758–1William J. Brennan Jr.
• Philbrook v. Glodgett
  421 U.S. 707Decided June 9, 19759–0William H. Rehnquist
• Roe v. Norton
  422 U.S. 391Decided June 24, 19759–0Per curiam
• Shea v. Vialpando
  416 U.S. 251Decided April 23, 19749–0Lewis F. Powell Jr.
• Hagans v. Lavine
  415 U.S. 528Decided March 25, 19746–3Byron R. White

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Cases on the same legal provision: Aid to Families with Dependent Children (Social Security Act)

• Townsend v. SwankLaw held unconstitutional
  404 U.S. 282Decided December 20, 19717–0William J. Brennan Jr.
• Dandridge v. Williams
  397 U.S. 471Decided April 6, 19705–3Potter Stewart
• Bowen v. Gilliard
  483 U.S. 587Decided June 25, 19876–3John Paul Stevens
• Linda J. Blessing v. Cathy Freestone, Etc.
  520 U.S. 329Decided April 21, 19979–0Sandra Day O'Connor

Same Term, same area (Civil Rights)

• Saxbe v. Bustos
  419 U.S. 65Decided November 25, 19745–4William O. Douglas
• Schick v. Reed
  419 U.S. 256Decided December 23, 19746–3Warren E. Burger
• Sosna v. Iowa
  419 U.S. 393Decided January 14, 19756–3William H. Rehnquist
• Schlesinger v. Ballard
  419 U.S. 498Decided January 15, 19755–4Potter Stewart
• Taylor v. LouisianaAltered precedentLaw held unconstitutional
  419 U.S. 522Decided January 21, 19758–1Byron R. White
• United States v. Mazurie
  419 U.S. 544Decided January 21, 19759–0William H. Rehnquist

See all

Source: Supreme Court Database, 2026 Release 01 (data file dated September 8, 2026). Imported into CaseTrail November 5, 2026. Coverage: decisions from the 1946 through 2025 Terms. Methodology · Report an error