Recognizing the Rights of Mentally Retarded Group Home Residents

Abstract The city of Cleburne, Texas, like innumerable other municipalities around the country, required homes for retarded persons to obtain special permission to locate in a district despite the fact that similar usages for nonretarded persons were permitted there by right. When the city council refused the permit, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that requiring the permit violated the Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees equal protection of the laws. City of Cleburne, Texas v. Cleburne Living Center, 105 S. Ct. 3249 (1985), 38 ZD 69.