Lawrence v. Texas
Citation: 539 U.S. 558 (U.S. Supreme Court, 2003)
Facts
Police responded to a reported weapons disturbance at John Lawrence’s Houston apartment and found Lawrence and Tyron Garner engaged in consensual same-sex sexual conduct. Both were arrested and convicted under Texas’s Homosexual Conduct Law, which criminalized same-sex (but not opposite-sex) sodomy.
Issue
Does a state criminal statute prohibiting consensual same-sex intimate conduct violate the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment?
Holding
The Court (6–3, Kennedy, J.) struck down the Texas statute, overruling Bowers v. Hardwick (1986). The majority grounded the decision in substantive due process: the liberty protected by the Fourteenth Amendment includes the right of adults to engage in private consensual sexual conduct.
Rule
The Due Process Clause protects an individual’s right to define and express personal relationships and intimate choices, including consensual same-sex sexual conduct. Laws that demean the existence and personal dignity of gay and lesbian individuals cannot stand.
Significance
Lawrence overruled Bowers v. Hardwick and eliminated criminal sodomy laws. Justice Kennedy’s opinion broadly framed liberty as encompassing intimate personal decisions — language later deployed in Obergefell. Justice O’Connor concurred on equal protection grounds alone (no need to overrule Bowers). Justice Scalia’s dissent argued the majority had effectively invalidated all morality-based legislation and predicted Lawrence would require recognition of same-sex marriage.