In the case of Richardson, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare v. Wright et al., 1971, the U.S Supreme Court ruled on a dispute regarding Social Security benefits. The plaintiffs were widows who had been denied mother's insurance benefits under the Social Security Act because they did not have minor children in their care at the time of their husbands' deaths. They argued that this requirement was unconstitutional as it violated due process and equal protection principles by discriminating against them based on marital status and sex. The court held that these provisions did not violate either principle. It reasoned that Congress intended to provide immediate assistance to surviving spouses with minor children in their care after a wage earner’s death - an objective which is legitimate within its broad power to set up classifications for social security purposes. Therefore, denying benefits to those without dependent children was rational and related directly to achieving this goal. Furthermore, there was no discrimination based on sex or marital status since both men and women could qualify for such benefits if they met all requirements including having custody of minor children at the time of spouse's death.

In the dissenting opinion for Richardson, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare v. Wright et al., Justice Douglas argued that the Social Security Act should be interpreted to provide benefits to children who were dependent on a deceased parent at any point prior to their death rather than only those who were dependent at the time of death. He believed that this interpretation was more consistent with Congress's intent when it passed the Act and would better serve its purpose of providing economic security for families. Furthermore, he contended that denying benefits based on whether or not a child was currently receiving support from a deceased parent could lead to arbitrary results because it did not take into account fluctuations in income or other changes in circumstances which might affect dependency status over time.