Lawrence v. Texas

• Author: Jeffrey Lehman, Shirelle Phelps

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The Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S., 123 S.Ct. 2472, 156 L.Ed.2d 508 (2003), striking down state SODOMY laws as applied to gays and lesbians. In the 6?3 decision, five justices overturned a 1986 ruling that had given states the right to criminalize sodomy and announced that homosexuals as well as heterosexuals enjoy a fundamental right to conduct their intimate relations without interference by the state. The decision elated gay rights advocates and outraged conservative groups that warned the decision set the stage for legalizing gay marriage. In a stinging dissent, Justice ANTONIN SCALIA accused the majority of adopting the "homosexual agenda."

John Geddes Lawrence and Tyron Garner were charged with violating a Texas CRIMINAL LAW that made it a crime for same-sex couples to engage in oral and anal intercourse. A police officer had entered their apartment after a neighbor made a false report of a disturbance; the officer observed the couple having sex and charged them with the crime. They pleaded no contest to the charges and were fined $200 and assessed court costs. They appealed to the Texas Court of Appeals and Criminal Court of Appeals, arguing that the law violated the DUE PROCESS and EQUAL PROTECTION CLAUSES of the FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT. They pointed out that the law only applied to acts committed by homosexuals. The Texas courts rejected these arguments, relying on the Supreme Court's 1986 ruling in Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186, 106 S. Ct. 2841, 92 L. Ed. 2d 140 (1986). In Bowers, the Court voted 5?4 to uphold a Georgia criminal sodomy statute. It reasoned that there had been a long legal and moral tradition against acts of sodomy and homosexuality. Therefore, homosexuals did not have a constitutional right to commit sodomy. The decision had been severely criticized by legal commentators and state supreme courts, which had overturned sodomy statutes based on state constitution due process clauses. When the Supreme Court agreed to hear the Texas case, it became clear that members of the Court had second thoughts as well.

Justice ANTHONY KENNEDY, writing for the five-member majority, overturned the Bowers precedent, but more importantly made a strong statement on behalf of the CIVIL RIGHTS of gays and lesbians. Justice Kennedy stated that Texas had intruded on the "liberty of the person both

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in its spatial and more transcendent...