Callahan v. Woods

658 F.2d 679 Robert Dale CALLAHAN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Marion WOODS, Director California Dept. of Benefit Payments and Joseph Califano, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare of the United States, Defendants-Appellees. No. 79-4612. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted June 10, 1981. Decided Oct. 5, 1981. Alan Jaroslovsky, Santa Rosa, Cal., for plaintiff-appellant. Leonard Schaitman, Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., for defendants-appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Before ADAMS, * GOODWIN and FARRIS, Circuit Judges. ADAMS, Circuit Judge. 1 On this appeal we are asked to determine whether the state and federal governments, in requiring Robert D. Callahan to obtain a social security number for his daughter before she could obtain public assistance benefits, even though procuring such a number would contravene what appellant asserts is a sincere religious belief, violated his First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion. Because the district court, 479 F.Supp. 621 , in awarding summary judgment for the government, incorrectly construed plaintiff's beliefs as…