Vlandis v. Kline

Connecticut requires nonresidents enrolled in the state university system to pay tuition and other fees at higher rates than state residents and provides an irreversible and irrebuttable statutory presumption that because the legal address of a student, if married, was outside the State at the time of application for admission or, if single, was outside the State at some point during the preceding year, he remains a nonresident as long as he is a student in Connecticut. Appellees challenge that presumption, claiming that they have a constitutional right to controvert it by presenting evidence of bona fide residence in the State. The District Court upheld their claim.

Held: The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment does not permit Connecticut to deny an individual the opportunity to present evidence that he is a bona fide resident entitled to in-state rates, on the basis of a permanent and irrebuttable presumption of nonresidence, when that presumption is not necessarily or universally true in fact, and when the State has reasonable alternative means of making the crucial determination. Pp. 446-454.

346 F.Supp. 526, affirmed.

STEWART, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BRENNAN, MARSHALL, BLACKMUN, and POWELL, JJ., joined. MARSHALL, J., filed a concurring opinion, in which BRENNAN, J., joined, post, p. 454. WHITE, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, post, p. 456. BURGER, C.J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which REHNQUIST, J., joined, post, p. 459. REHNQUIST, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which BURGER, C.J., and DOUGLAS, J., joined, post, p. 463.

John G. Hill, Jr., Assistant Attorney General of Connecticut, argued the cause for appellant. With him on the brief was Robert K. Killian, Attorney General.

John A. Dziamba argued the cause for appellees. With him on the brief was Douglas M. Crockett.^[1]