Lawrence v. Texas
United States Supreme Court
539 U.S. 558 (2003)
- Written by Megan Petersen, JD
Facts
Police officers were dispatched to the home of John Lawrence (defendant) in response to a report of a weapons disturbance. When the police went into the home, the police observed Lawrence and Tyron Garner (defendant) engaged in a sexual act. The State of Texas (plaintiff) charged Lawrence and Garner with engaging in deviate sexual intercourse with a person of the same sex. Lawrence and Garner were convicted by a justice of the peace and exercised their right to a new trial in criminal court. Lawrence and Garner argued that the statute was a violation of the Equal Protection Clause. The criminal court rejected the arguments, and Lawrence and Garner entered pleas of nolo contendere. The court of appeals confirmed the convictions, and Lawrence and Garner petitioned the United States Supreme Court for review.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Kennedy, J.)
Concurrence (O’Connor, J.)
Dissent (Scalia, J.)
Dissent (Thomas, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 804,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
