482
Breyer, J., dissenting
the statute requires (1) a promise by the father to support the child until the child is 18, and (2) before the child turns 18, legitimation, written acknowledgment by the father under oath, or an adjudication of paternity. 8 U. S. C. § 1409(a). If the citizen parent is a woman, she need not do either. § 1409(c).
Distinctions of this kind—based upon gender—are subject to a " 'strong presumption' " of constitutional invalidity. Virginia, 518 U. S., at 532 (quoting J. E. B., supra, at 152 (Kennedy, J., concurring in judgment)). The Equal Protection Clause permits them only if the Government meets the "demanding" burden of showing an " 'exceedingly persuasive' " justification for the distinction. Virginia, supra, at 533; see also J. E. B., supra, at 136; Mississippi Univ. for Women v. Hogan, 458 U. S. 718, 724 (1982); Personnel Administrator of Mass. v. Feeney, 442 U. S. 256, 273 (1979); Kirchberg v. Feenstra, 450 U. S. 455, 461 (1981). That distinction must further important governmental objectives, and the discriminatory means employed must be "substantially related" to the achievement of those objectives. Virginia, supra, at 533 (citing Mississippi Univ. for Women, supra, at 724). This justification "must be genuine, not hypothesized or invented post hoc in response to litigation." Virginia, 518 U. S., at 533. Further, "it must not rely on overbroad generalizations about the different talents, capacities, or preferences of males and females." Ibid.; see also J. E. B., supra, at 139-140, and n. 11; Craig, 429 U. S., at 201; Califano v. Goldfarb, 430 U. S. 199, 223-224 (1977) (Stevens, J., concurring in judgment); Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld, 420 U. S. 636, 643 (1975). The fact that the statutes "discriminat[e] against males rather than against females" is beside the point. Mississippi Univ. for Women, 458 U. S., at 723.
The statutory distinctions here violate these standards. They depend for their validity upon the generalization that mothers are significantly more likely than fathers to care for
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