Sodomy on trial: a divided U.S. Supreme Court gives little clue as to where it will fall on the legality of Texas's antigay sodomy law. (Court).Not long into the March 26 oral arguments in Lawrence v. Texas The Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S., 123 S.Ct. 2472, 156 L.Ed.2d 508 (2003), striking down state Sodomy laws as applied to gays and lesbians. , Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Ruth Joan Bader Ginsburg (born March 15 1933, Brooklyn, New York) is an Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. Having spent 13 years as a federal judge, but not being a career jurist, she is unique as a Supreme Court justice, having spent the majority of her career as an asked Harris County Harris County is the name of several counties in the United States:
"It would seem relevant to your argument, "Ginsburg noted dryly, staring at Rosenthal. Indeed, not only had Rosenthal displayed a critical gap in knowledge of Texas law, but he unwittingly underscored Ginsburg's point: The state's application of sodomy laws to same-sex couples is arbitrary and could potentially raise serious questions about the equal protection clause The Equal Protection Clause, part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, provides that "no state shall… deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. of the U.S. Constitution. If Supreme Court cases were decided by the lawyers' performance before the court, the Texas sodomy law would be history. Rosenthal was thoroughly outclassed out·class tr.v. out·classed, out·class·ing, out·class·es To surpass decisively, so as to appear of a higher class. Adj. 1. by Paul Smith, the Supreme Court case veteran who argued for the plaintiffs, John Lawrence and Tyron Garner. "Rosenthal appeared to be reading at the start of the argument, which the court frowns on, and could not answer one of the Justice Ginsburg's questions," said Kenneth Jost, editor of The Supreme Court A to Z, a highly regarded guide to the court's rulings. "Smith didn't miss a beat." Aside from the exchange between Ginsburg and Rosenthal, there were few clues to where the high court may come down in June, when it is expected to decide the fate of the Texas law and possibly that of the existing sodomy laws in 12 other states. Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Antonin Scalia, generally considered the court's most conservative members, peppered Smith with questions about Texas's right to regulate sexual behavior sexual behavior A person's sexual practices–ie, whether he/she engages in heterosexual or homosexual activity. See Sex life, Sexual life. . "Almost all laws are based on disapproval of some people or conduct. That's why people regulate," Rehnquist declared. The court's two key swing votes, Anthony Kennedy and Sandra Day O'Connor Sandra Day O'Connor (born March 26 1930) is an American jurist who served as the first female Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. She was considered a strict constructionist. , asked only a few questions and did not tip their hands either way. "We went into the argument feeling optimistic, and we left the argument feeling the same way," said Michael Adams of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, a gay legal advocacy group representing the plaintiffs. "That's all you can ask for." |
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