Sorenson v. Secretary of the Treasury et al. (475 U.S. 851)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided April 22, 1986 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 475 U.S. 851 · 106 S. Ct. 1600
- Decided
- April 22, 1986
- Term
- October Term 1985
- Vote
- 8–1
- Majority author
- Justice Blackmun
- Issue area
- Federal Taxation
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Blackmun delivered the opinion of the Court. The Internal Revenue Code and the Social Security Act direct the Secretary of the Treasury to “intercept” certain tax refunds payable to persons who have failed to meet child-support obligations. In this case, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that payments involving eamed-income credits could be intercepted. 752 F. 2d 1433 (1985). We granted certiorari, 472 U. S. 1016 (1985), because this ruling was in conflict with decisions of the Courts of Appeals for the Second and Tenth Circuits. See Rucker v. Secretary of Treasury, 751 F. 2d 351 (CA10 1984); Nelson v. Regan, 731 F. 2d 105 (CA2), cert. denied sub nom. Manning v. Nelson, 469 U. S. 853 (1984). I A Stanley Sorenson, the husband of petitioner Marie Soren-son, was legally obligated to make child-support payments for a child of his previous marriage who was in the custody of his former wife. Mr. Sorenson was unemployed because of a disability and fell behind on those support payments. His former wife applied for welfare benefits from the State of Washington. Since 1975, the program for Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) has required, as a condition of eligibility, that applicants for welfare assign to the State concerned any right to child-support payments that has accrued at the time of assignment. Pub. L. 93-647, § 101(c)(5)(C), 88…
Excerpt of a 31,084-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.