Fiallo v. Bell

430 U.S. 787 · Decided April 26, 1977 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Fiallo v. Bell was decided on April 26, 1977 by a vote of 6–3. The Court affirmed the lower court's decision. Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Rights of illegitimates” 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

Full case caption

Fiallo, a Minor, by Rodriguez, et al. v. Bell, Attorney General, et al.

SCDB identifiers: case 1976-092, docket 1976-092-01.

Related decisions

Other cases on “Rights of illegitimates”

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Cases on the same legal provision: Immigration and Nationality statutes

• Elkins v. Moreno
  435 U.S. 647Decided April 19, 19787–2William J. Brennan Jr.
• Agosto v. Immigration and Naturalization Service
  436 U.S. 748Decided June 6, 19787–2Thurgood Marshall
• Reid et Ux. v. Immigration and Naturalization Service
  420 U.S. 619Decided March 18, 19756–2William H. Rehnquist
• Saxbe v. Bustos
  419 U.S. 65Decided November 25, 19745–4William O. Douglas
• Vance v. Terrazas
  444 U.S. 252Decided January 15, 19805–4Byron R. White
• United States Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Hibi
  414 U.S. 5Decided October 23, 19736–3Per curiam

Same Term, same area (Civil Rights)

• Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Bagamasbad
  429 U.S. 24Decided November 1, 19769–0Per curiam
• General Electric Co. v. Gilbert
  429 U.S. 125Decided December 7, 19766–3William H. Rehnquist
• Mathews v. de Castro
  429 U.S. 181Decided December 13, 19769–0Potter Stewart
• Craig v. BorenAltered precedentLaw held unconstitutional
  429 U.S. 190Decided December 20, 19767–2William J. Brennan Jr.
• International Union of Electrical v. Robbins & Myers, Inc.
  429 U.S. 229Decided December 20, 19769–0William H. Rehnquist
• Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp.
  429 U.S. 252Decided January 11, 19775–3Lewis F. Powell Jr.

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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