The U.S. Supreme Court says a man's children who were born through artificial insemination after his death cannot get government survivor benefits.

The high court on Monday unanimously ruled that twins born to Robert Capato's surviving wife Karen did not qualify under the survivor benefits law.

The Capato twins were conceived using frozen sperm and born 18 months after their father died of esophageal cancer. The Social Security Administration rejected their survivor benefits application, saying that to qualify Robert Capato needed to be alive during their conception. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that decision, saying the Capato twins were clearly the biological children of Robert Capato and deserved the survivor benefits.

The high court, in a decision written by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, threw out that ruling.