Lower Court Holding in Capata v. Astrue
Decision of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
This case — a case that involves the rights of the posthumously conceived children of a deceased wage-earner and his widow — requires us to consider the intersection of new reproductive technologies and what is required to qualify for child survivor benefits under the Social Security Act. It goes without saying that these technologies were not within the imagination, much less the contemplation, of Congress when the relevant sections of the Act came to be, and that they present a host of difficult legal and even moral questions. We need not reach those difficult questions given the discrete factual circumstances…