Constitutional Rights of Relief Recipients Denied

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- Press Releases
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- 2379051b-b892-ee11-be37-00224827e97b

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Press Releases, Volume 5. Constitutional Rights of Relief Recipients Denied, 1967. 2379051b-b892-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/88d346af-230c-4b28-98db-71b998756aa2/constitutional-rights-of-relief-recipients-denied. Accessed November 23, 2025.

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Py loa Francia E Wivers
PRESS RELEASE Director-Counsel

egal efense und deck Creraibers
Director, Public Relations

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. FOR RELEASE Jesse DeVore, Jr.

9
September 18, 1967

10 Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y. 10019 * JUdson 6-8397 MONDAY NIGHT NUMBER 212-749-8487 |

HO
|

CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS OF

RELIEF RECIPIENTS DENIED

WASHINGTON---The Senate Finance Committee was told today that public

welfare recipients across the country are regularly denied protections

of the U.S. Constitution, the Social Security Act and federal regula-

tions of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

"This lawless administration of the law is documented in my

written testimony," said Attorney Leroy D. Clark, spokesman for the

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDE)* and the National

Office for the Rights of the Indigent (NORI)**.

Mr. Clark said that clients receiving Aid to Dependent Children

are among those most frequently abused under the current procedures.

Numerous state and local welfare officials daily deny rights

guaranteed by the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment and

the due process clauses of the 5th and 14th amendments, he testified.

Among unconstitutional state rules are: “maximum limits on family

grants; ‘substitute father' rules; some ‘employable mother! rules; and

the requirement of minimum periods of absence before desertion can be

determined.”

Mr. Clark added that many states have practices which are in

direct violation of HEW follow-up regulations, issued after passage of

the Social Security Act.

Outlining specifics, Mr. Clark stressed that many states

* do not make prompt determinations of eligibility

* do not give adequate reasons for denials of assistance

* do not provide prompt review of decisions

* do not adequately inform clients of their rights of review

* do not have adequate hearing procedures.

"Tn addition," Mr. Clark said, "no state affords welfare clients

‘their constitutional right to have a hearing before their grants are

reduced or eliminated by welfare agency officials."

The LDF and NORI based their testimony on a survey of their

cooperating lawyers in fifteen representative states geographically

CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS OF
RELIEF RECIPIENTS DENIED -2- September 18, 1967

scattered across the entire nation,

The two legal organizations made four observations:

1. Congress might consider scrutinizing the Social Security Act
and remove any unconstitutional features.

2. Congress might consider providing welfare recipients with

procedures that would allow them to receive realistic redress from

welfare agencies.

3. Congress might consider amending the Act "to require, rather
than permit, HEl to hold hearings on state plans, alleged by aggrieved
clients to be inconsistent with federal statutes and regulations,

4. Congress might authorize federal district courts to award
reasonable attorney fees to clients who bring successful claims so
that private attorneys will consider accepting their cases,

2306

* The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is a
separate, distinct and different organization from the NAACP, Its
correct designation is: NAACP Leqal Defense and Educational Fund,

Inc., which is frequently shortened to LDF,

The National Office for the Rights of the Indigent (NORI) was estab-
lished by the LDF last year under a one million dollar three-year

grant from the Ford Foundation.

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Constitutional Rights of Relief Recipients Denied

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