Supreme Court of the United States · 2003 · Constitutional Law
substantive due processlibertysexual autonomyprivacyDue Process Clauselibertyprivate sexual conductconsenting adults
Facts
Houston police entered Lawrence's apartment after a reported weapons disturbance, and the legality of the entry was not questioned. Officers observed John Lawrence and Tyron Garner, both adults, engaging in a sexual act in private. They were arrested, held overnight, and convicted under Texas Penal Code § 21.06(a), which made it a crime for two persons of the same sex to engage in specified intimate sexual conduct. Their conduct was private and consensual.
Issue
Whether the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment protects the liberty of adults to engage in private, consensual intimate sexual conduct so that Texas may not make that conduct a crime, and whether Bowers v. Hardwick should be overruled.
Rule
Adults are free under the Due Process Clause to engage in private, consensual intimate conduct as an aspect of liberty, and the State may not criminalize that conduct where the law furthers no legitimate state interest sufficient to justify intrusion into the person's personal and private life. Moral disapproval alone does not answer the constitutional question, and Bowers's contrary understanding of the liberty interest was incorrect.
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10 practice questions + 4 AI-graded essays on this case
One of 10 multiple-choice questions for this case. Pick an answer to see why.
In Columbus, Ohio, the legislature enacts a misdemeanor statute making it a crime for any two unmarried adults to engage in specified oral sexual contact in a private apartment. Nina Patel and Jordan Hale, both 32, are cited after officers lawfully enter Jordan's apartment for an unrelated noise complaint and observe the conduct.
If Nina challenges the statute under the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause, which is the strongest argument for invalidating it?
Explanation. The majority held that adults have liberty under the Due Process Clause to engage in private, consensual intimate conduct, and the State may not criminalize that conduct absent a legitimate state interest sufficient to justify intrusion into personal and private life. The Court did not make the outcome turn on unlawful entry or on unequal treatment between classes, and it rejected a narrow framing of the liberty interest as merely a claimed right to perform a particular sex act. (Derived from Lawrence v. Texas (2003).)