Buck v Bell, one of the Supreme Court’s worst mistakes Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr may have been the most influential justice of the past 100 years to serve on the US Supreme Court. - Definition, History & Examples, Strict & Loose Constructions of the Constitution, U.S. 292 . first two years of college and save thousands off your degree. After being raised by foster parents and allegedly raped by their nephew, the appellant, Carrie Buck, was deemed feebleminded and promiscuous. Her daughter, Vivian, proved to be a good student, even making the honor roll at her school in 1931. At 7 months old, baby Vivian was also judged by the state of Virginia to be feeble-minded. By the 1970s, most states had ceased sterilization programs. Carrie Buck (plaintiff) had a mental illness and was a patient at a mental hospital. According to its proponents, encouraging desirable individuals to have many children and limiting or discouraging undesirable individuals from have children, would create a better, more desirable American society. Buck v. Bell. {{courseNav.course.topics.length}} chapters | 47 S.Ct. During the early 1900s, social Darwinism, the theory that the laws of natural selection also applied to humans, became an increasingly popular topic of discussion in the United States. Docket no. Did you know… We have over 200 college In 1942, in Skinner v. Oklahoma, the Supreme Court ruled that the state could not sterilize criminals. For some Americans, the theory of social Darwinism led to eugenics, the idea that Americans with desirable characteristics, such as good health, intelligence, attractiveness and high moral quality, should reproduce, while Americans with undesirable qualities should be unable to reproduce. She died in 1983. Carrie Buck was a "feeble minded woman" who was committed to a state mental institution. Buck v. Bell. courses that prepare you to earn Anyone can earn Decided May 2, 1927. Carrie Buck was forcibly sterilized, and there was nothing she could do to stop the process. May 2, 1927. Buck v. Bell. Carrie also stated that she was institutionalized because her family did not want to face the social stigma of having a single mother in their home. A petition for certiorari was filed, briefs were submitted and on May 2, 1927, the United States Supreme Court upheld Virginia’s eugenical sterilization law by a vote of 8 to 1 [Buck v. Bell, 274 U.S. 200 (1927)]. Today, the government recognizes the rights of individuals to determine their own reproductive interests. 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Later Supreme Court Justices have chosen to limit the ability of the state to sterilize individuals. With a newly passed law allowing for the sterilization of individuals with a family history of instability, the superintendent of the Virginia State Colony requested a hearing to have Carrie sterilized. In November of 1925, the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals affirmed the ruling of the Amherst County Circuit Court. ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF VIRGINIA Syllabus. Buck and her attorney argued that the Fourteenth Amendment should keep the state from intervening in her ability to procreate. The court case created as a result of Carrie Buck's proposed sterilization went first through the Virginia State Court system and then to the U.S. Supreme Court, the highest court in the United States. Buck and her attorney argued that the Fourteenth Amendment should keep the state from intervening in her ability to procreate. The Supreme Court justices voted 8 to 1 to allow the sterilization of Carrie Buck and, by extension, any other American in similar circumstances. In Buck v.Bell, decided on May 2, 1927, the U.S. Supreme Court, by a vote of 8 to 1, affirmed the constitutionality of Virginia's law allowing state-enforced sterilization. Argued April 22, 1927. In 1924, Virginia passed its sterilization law based on Laughlin’s model. To learn more, visit our Earning Credit Page. Opinions. just create an account. Enrolling in a course lets you earn progress by passing quizzes and exams. Argued April 22, 1927. Buck v. Bell (1927). While many states already had sterilization laws on their books, their use was erratic and effects practically non-existent in every state except for California. Carrie and Emma Buck. Learn about Carrie's fight to stop of the sterilization and discover one of the most infamous cases in the history of the Supreme Court of the United States. Carrie Buck and thousands of other patients in state mental hospitals were forcibly sterilized as part of the widespread belief that those with mental issues should not be allowed to have children. Like her mother, the primary evidence used to prove that Carrie was promiscuous was that she had given birth to a daughter, Vivian, without being married. Later, as the cruel eugenics programs of Nazi Germany came to light, Americans began to see sterilization programs as overly controlling. Sterilization decisions were made by the mental hospital in which the person resided. Visit the American Government: Help and Review page to learn more. A petition for certiorari was filed, briefs were submitted and on May 2, 1927, the United States Supreme Court upheld Virginia’s eugenical sterilization law by a vote of 8 to 1 [Buck v. Bell, 274 U.S. 200 (1927)]. imaginable degree, area of Only 1 judge, Justice Pierce Butler, dissented, or disagreed with this opinion; however, he did not produce a written opinion explaining his reasons. In Buck v.Bell, 274 U.S. 200, 47 S.Ct. Carrie Buck is a feeble-minded white woman who was committed to the State Colony above mentioned in due form. After several months of … All rights reserved. Unfortunately, young Vivian died the next year as a result of measles-related complications. 1. Her condition had been present in her family for the last three generations. The controversial and cruel eugenics program practiced by Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany and the increasing understanding of mental disease made sterilization laws less popular in the United States. Syllabus ; View Case ; Petitioner Buck . BUCK v. BELL, Superintendent of State Colony Epileptics and Feeble Minded. In the majority opinion (the official, written opinion of the justices who voted in favor of sterilization), Justice Oliver W. Holmes wrote that 'three generations of imbeciles are enough.'. Respondent Bell . Buck consistently expressed regret that she was unable to have more children. Log in or sign up to add this lesson to a Custom Course. 274 U.S. 200. Buck v. Bell. To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member. No. She is the daughter of a feeble-minded mother in the same institution, and the mother of an illegitimate feeble-minded child. 274 U.S. 200. A Virginia law provided that a person with a mental illness could be sterilized for the benefit of the person and society.