476
Breyer, J., dissenting
Wulff, 428 U. S. 106, 108 (1976); Craig, supra, at 192; Eisenstadt v. Baird, 405 U. S. 438, 446 (1972); NAACP v. Alabama ex rel. Patterson, 357 U. S. 449, 459 (1958); Barrows v. Jackson, 346 U. S. 249, 254 (1953). But they set no inner limit.
Nor do I agree with Justice O'Connor's determination that "rational scrutiny" must apply to Lorelyn's assertion of her own rights. Lorelyn belongs to a class made up of children of citizen fathers, whom the law distinguishes from the class of children of citizen mothers, solely on grounds of the parent's gender. This Court, I assume, would use heightened scrutiny were it to review discriminatory laws based upon ancestry, say, laws that denied voting rights or educational opportunity based upon the religion, or the racial makeup, of a parent or grandparent. And, if that is so, I am not certain that it makes a significant difference whether one calls the rights at issue those of Lorelyn or of her father. Allen v. Wright, 468 U. S. 737 (1984), does not hold to the contrary. Id., at 755 (black schoolchildren's parents who claimed a "stigmatizing injury" due to Internal Revenue Service decision to grant tax exempt status to racially discriminatory private schools had not been "personally denied equal treatment," and thus had not been injured).
Regardless, like Justice O'Connor, I "do not share," and thus I believe a Court majority does not share, "Justice Stevens' assessment that the provision withstands heightened scrutiny." Ante, at 451. I also agree with Justice O'Connor that "[i]t is unlikely" that "gender classifications based on stereotypes can survive heightened scrutiny," ante, at 452, a view shared by at least five Members of this Court. Indeed, for reasons to which I shall now turn, we must subject the provisions here at issue to "heightened scrutiny." And those provisions cannot survive.
III
This case is about American citizenship and its transmission from an American parent to his child. The right of citi-
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