Fact check
Is it true: Buck v Bell SCOTUS sterilization ruling (May 2 1927)?
Yes — this is confirmed.
8-1 SCOTUS ruling (2 May 1927) upheld Virginia's Sterilization Act. Holmes opinion: 'Three generations of imbeciles are enough.' Carrie Buck: 17yo, raped by foster-family nephew, institutionalized. Stephen Jay Gould research showed Buck's daughter Vivian — the 'third generation' — had normal-to-honor-roll school performance before dying at age 8. Cited by Nazi defendants at Nuremberg 1947. Never formally overturned. Virginia apology 2002.
The claim
On 2 May 1927, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in Buck v. Bell that Virginia's compulsory sterilization law was constitutional. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. wrote the majority opinion, coining the ph
Key evidence
SCOTUS upheld Virginia Sterilization Act 8-1
Skinner v. Oklahoma (1942) narrowed but did not overrule Buck
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