This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

A Maryland statute imposed a $250 per month limit per family on AFDC benefits. The maximum benefit is the minimum income earned by the working poor. The state justifies its provision based on three factors: 1) to encourage employment; 2) to maintain balance between welfare earners and wage earners; 3) to provide incentives for family planning; 4) to apportion benefits to serve all of its constituents' needs. Families with large households challenged the provision, asserting that the law discriminated based on family size in prohibition of the Equal Protection of the Fourteenth Amendment. The District Court held in favor of welfare recipients. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed.

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