Moe v. Dinkins

Maria Moe, 15, and Raoul Roe, 18, had a child together and lived as an independent family unit, but Moe's widowed mother refused to consent to their marriage as required by New York law, which mandated both parental consent and, for young women, judicial approval before marrying. Moe and Roe sued the city clerk and state health commissioner (defendants), and additional similarly situated plaintiffs — including a pregnant 15-year-old, Coe, whose mother also withheld consent — sought to intervene under pseudonyms; the district court certified the case as a class action, and the plaintiffs moved for summary judgment declaring the consent statute unconstitutional.