Cite as: 519 U. S. 102 (1996)
Opinion of the Court
mental interest," we said. Id., at 445. Although "obtaining [a] desired new start in life [is] important," that interest, the Court explained, "does not rise to the same constitutional level" as the interest in establishing or dissolving a marriage. Ibid.7 Nor is resort to court the sole path to securing debt forgiveness, we stressed; in contrast, termination of a marriage, we reiterated, requires access to the State's judicial machinery. Id., at 445-446; see Boddie, 401 U. S., at 376.
In Ortwein v. Schwab, 410 U. S. 656 (1973) (per curiam), the Court adhered to the line drawn in Kras. The appellants in Ortwein sought court review of agency determinations reducing their welfare benefits. Alleging poverty, they challenged, as applied to them, an Oregon statute requiring appellants in civil cases to pay a $25 fee. We summarily affirmed the Oregon Supreme Court's judgment rejecting appellants' challenge. As in Kras, the Court saw no " 'fundamental interest . . . gained or lost depending on the availability' of the relief sought by [the complainants]." 410 U. S., at 659 (quoting Kras, 409 U. S., at 445). Absent a fundamental interest or classification attracting heightened scrutiny, we said, the applicable equal protection standard
the classification which a State makes in a sterilization law is essential."); Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U. S. 390, 399 (1923) (recognizing liberty interest in raising children). See Kras, 409 U. S., at 444.
7 The Court ranked the prescription in Kras with economic and social welfare legislation generally, and cited among examples: Jefferson v. Hackney, 406 U. S. 535, 546 (1972) (Texas scheme for allocating limited welfare benefits is a rational legislative "effor[t] to tackle the problems of the poor and the needy."); Richardson v. Belcher, 404 U. S. 78 (1971) (federal statute mandating reductions in Social Security benefits to reflect workers' compensation payments is social welfare regulation that survives rational-basis review); Dandridge v. Williams, 397 U. S. 471, 483, 487 (1970) (Maryland "maximum grant regulation" limiting family welfare benefits is economic, social welfare regulation that is "rationally based and free from invidious discrimination."); Flemming v. Nestor, 363 U. S. 603, 606, 611 (1960) (The right to receive benefits under the Social Security Act is not "an accrued property right," but Congress may not take away benefits arbitrarily.). See Kras, 409 U. S., at 445-446.
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