Goldberg v. Kelly
| Goldberg v. Kelly | |
|---|---|
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| Argued October 13, 1969 Decided March 23, 1970 |
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| Full case name | Goldberg, Commissioner of Social Services of the City of New York v. Kelly, et al. |
| Citations | 397 U.S. 254 (more)
90 S. Ct. 1011; 25 L. Ed. 2d 287; 1970 U.S. LEXIS 80
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| Prior history | Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York |
| Holding | |
| The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution requires a full evidentiary hearing before a recipient of certain government benefits is deprived of such benefits. | |
| Court membership | |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Brennan, joined by Douglas, Harlan, White, Marshall |
| Dissent | Burger |
| Dissent | Black |
| Dissent | Stewart |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amend. XIV | |
Goldberg v. Kelly, 397 U.S. 254 (1970), is a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution requires an evidentiary hearing before a recipient of certain government welfare benefits can be deprived of such benefits.
The individual losing benefits is entitled to an oral hearing before an impartial decision-maker as well as the right to confront and cross-examine witnesses and the right to a written statement setting out the evidence relied upon and the legal basis for the decision. There is no right to a formal trial. The case was decided 5-3. (There was a vacancy on the Court because of the resignation of Abe Fortas.)
1. Welfare benefits are a matter of statutory entitlement for persons qualified to receive them and so procedural due process is applicable to their termination.
2. The interest of the eligible recipient in the uninterrupted receipt of public assistance, which provides him with essential food, clothing, housing, and medical care and the State's interest that his payments not be erroneously terminated clearly outweigh the State's competing concern to prevent any increase in its fiscal and administrative burdens.
3. A pre-termination evidentiary hearing is necessary to provide the welfare recipient with procedural due process.
(a) Such hearing need not take the form of a judicial or quasi-judicial trial, but the recipient must be provided with timely and adequate notice detailing the reasons for termination and an effective opportunity to defend by confronting adverse witnesses and by presenting his own arguments and evidence orally before the decision maker.
(b) Counsel need not be furnished at the pre-termination hearing, but the recipient must be allowed to retain an attorney.
(c) A decision must rest "solely on the legal rules and evidence adduced at the hearing."
(d) The decision maker need not file a full opinion or make formal findings of fact or conclusions of law but should state the reasons for his determination and indicate the evidence he relied on.
(e) The decision maker must be impartial, and although prior involvement in some aspects of a case will not necessarily bar a welfare official from acting as decision maker, he should not have participated in making the determination under review.
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