In the 1977 case Zablocki, Milwaukee County Clerk v. Redhail, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Wisconsin law was unconstitutional because it infringed on an individual's right to marry. The law in question required any Wisconsin resident with children who they were not supporting and who did not have court permission to leave the state, to obtain court approval before getting married. The plaintiff in this case was Roger Redhail, a man unable to get such approval due to his financial situation which prevented him from fulfilling child support obligations for his out-of-wedlock child. In its decision, the Supreme Court held that marriage is one of life’s basic civil rights of man and central to personal dignity and autonomy; therefore laws interfering with this right must be closely scrutinized by courts for constitutionality.

In the dissenting opinion for Zablocki v. Redhail, Justice Rehnquist argued that the majority's decision to strike down a Wisconsin law requiring individuals with child support obligations to obtain court approval before marrying was an overreach of judicial power. He contended that this law did not infringe upon any fundamental right protected by the Constitution and therefore should have been evaluated under rational basis review rather than strict scrutiny. According to him, it is within states' rights to regulate marriage as they see fit in order to promote societal interests such as ensuring financial responsibility for children from previous relationships. Furthermore, he believed that there were other ways for those affected by this law to exercise their right to marry without obtaining court approval - namely, by fulfilling their child support obligations or demonstrating inability pay them due economic hardship reasons - thus making it less restrictive than portrayed by majority opinion.