Lawrence v. Texas
United States Supreme Court
539 U.S. 558 (2003)
- Written by Megan Petersen, JD
Facts
Police officers were dispatched to the apartment of John Lawrence (defendant) in response to a report of a weapons disturbance. When the officers entered the apartment, they observed Lawrence and Tyron Garner (defendant) engaged in a sexual act. Lawrence and Garner were charged with violating a Texas statute that criminalized sodomy between persons of the same sex. After Lawrence and Garner were convicted by a justice of the peace, they exercised their right to a new trial in criminal court. Lawrence and Garner argued that the Texas statute violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. The criminal court rejected that argument, and Lawrence and Garner entered pleas of nolo contendere. A Texas appellate court considered the statute’s intersection with both the Equal Protection Clause and the Due Process Clause but ultimately deemed the statute constitutional and affirmed the convictions. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Kennedy, J.)
Concurrence (O’Connor, J.)
Dissent (Scalia, J.)
Dissent (Thomas, J.)
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