How have courts dealt with discrimination in the context of section 214(a) of the Tax Code when a taxpayer is a woman or widower?

Nearer to point is Moritz v. Commissioner (10 Cir.) 469 F.2d 466, cert. denied, 412 U.S. 906, 93 S.Ct. 2291, 36 L.Ed.2d 971. In that case the court considered 26 U.S.C.A. section 214(a), which provided a tax deduction to a taxpayer who was 'a woman or widower, or [was] a husband whose wife [was] incapacitated or [was] institutionalized.' (Id. p. 468.) Applying equal protection principles as a part of due process under the Fifth Amendment, the court concluded the classification was an invalid, invidious discrimination against a man who had not married. (Id. p. 470.) The court further held 'the benefit of the deduction generally provided by the statute should be extended to the taxpayer.' (Id. p. 470.) Extending the coverage of the deduction provision was clearly not achieved by excising exempting language from the statute because there was no such language. Rather, extension was justified by the purpose of the statute and broad separability clause in the Act (id. p. 470) and by consideration of 'the disruption which the invalidation of the entire section on such deductions would bring about.' (Id. fn. 5.)