Why was the Lawrence v. Texas case appealed to the US Supreme Court?

Answer 1

Lawrence v. Texas, 539 US 558 (2003)

Oral arguments were held on March 26, 2003; the Supreme Court released its opinion on June 26, 2003.

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Answer 2

Lawrence v. Texas, 539 US 558 (2003)

Lawrence v. Texas was appealed to the US Supreme Court because the Court of Appeals of Texas, Fourteenth District, affirmed the lower court ruling convicting Lawrence and Garner of violation of an anti-sodomy law. Lawrence and Garner, the men convicted under that law, appealed the state courts' decision in an attempt to have Texas law overturned as unconstitutional.

The US Supreme Court agreed that private, consensual sexual acts between adults was a fundamental liberty protected by the Constitution under substantive due process. Further, Texas had no compelling reason to uphold the statute other than supporting the moral beliefs of the majority, which was insufficient cause for criminalizing a practice that didn't involve protection of minors or public safety.

For more information, see Related Questions, below.

Answer 3

Lawrence v. Texas, 539 US 558 (2003)

Police were alerted to a weapons disturbance at an apartment complex, and entered petitioner Lawrence's residence to investigate. Inside, they discovered Lawrence and another man, Garner, engaging in a private, consensual sexual act. Both men were arrested as sexual deviants under a Texas sodomy law designed to criminalize homosexual behavior.

The men were convicted, and the Court of Appeals of Texas, Fourteenth District, affirmed, basing their decision on the US Supreme Court's earlier decision in Bowers v. Hardwick,(1986).

In a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court overturned a Texas sodomy law, holding that private consensual sex between adults is a fundamental liberty (people have a fundamental right to privacy) protected by the Constitution under the doctrine of substantive due process.

The Court also held the Texas law as a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause. Lawrence overturned the Court's earlier decision in Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 US 186 (1986), that upheld the constitutionality of a Georgia sodomy law on the basis that there is no constitutional protection for sexual privacy.

In the opinion of the Court, Justice Kennedy acknowledged that the Bowers Court, in ruling that the Constitution doesn't confer "a fundamental right upon homosexuals to engage in sodomy..." had failed to appreciate the extent of liberty at stake.

He observed that the law sought to prevent a particular act, but in so doing violated the fundamental privacies of human intimacy and sexual behavior in the most private of places, the home. The Bowers Court failed to consider the implication of restricting a broad category of human rights.

Kennedy also noted that society's attitude toward criminalizing homosexual acts had evolved in the years since the Bowers decisions. In 1986, twenty-five states had anti-sodomy statutes; by 2003, only thirteen states still criminalized the act. Of these, only four enforced their statutes.

The decision of the Texas Courts was vacated and the law held unconstitutional.