Lawrence et al. versus Texas (2003)

QUESTION

1. Choose one U.S. Supreme Court case from history that originated in Texas or involved Texas as a plaintiff or defendant. Using and citing at least one source from the list below, explain the circumstances of the case (who were the litigants and what was at stake?) and the decision made by the United States Supreme Court.
2. In terms of federalism, explain that decision’s impact on relations between or the balance of power between Texas state government and the federal government. Use and cite at least one source from the list below to do so.
3. Using and citing at least one source from the list below, make an argument for or against the Court’s decision. I am not looking for an explanation of your opinion or beliefs about the decision, but an evidence-based argument that uses statistics, research studies, case studies, expert analysis or the like from cited, solid academic sources to back up your position. State your position clearly and use evidence to support it.
4. Compose a response to another student’s post. Choose a student who discussed a different topic or option than you did. Your response should be more than just opinion – you may agree or disagree with their position but you must use and cite solid academic sources to make your case in order to deepen and extend the discussion.

ANSWER

Federalism: Lawrence et al. versus Texas (2003)

The case involved John Geddes Lawrence and Tyrone Garner as the plaintiffs and Texas as the defendants. In 1998, the police found Lawrence and Garner engaging in consensual sex. The two were arrested and charged with violating Texas Sodomy law, which prohibited homosexual sex. Lawrence and Garner appealed the case and later took it to the US Supreme Court. The Supreme Court decided that the Texas statute that criminalized same-sex practices violated the Due Process Clause. According to the US Supreme Court, Lawrence and Garner were free to engage in consensual sex without the state’s interference. Had the Court decided otherwise, it would have validated the legality of all Anti-Sodomy laws in the US.

The Civil Rights Act of 1866 gave states the power to protect minority groups’s individual rights. Under federalism, states were reserved the power to make laws and oversee the individual rights of their citizens. According to (Lierley, 2013), states had the power to define and punish crime and determine the extent of people’s moral and religious freedom. In 2000 and 2001, the Texas Supreme Court and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (the state’s highest courts) respectively maintained that engaging in same-sex was immoral and violated the state’s anti-sodomy statutes. However, the US Supreme Court overruled these decisions by stating that the state’s anti-sodomy law violated the Due Process Clause. This decision withdrew the state’s powers to protect individuals’ civil rights (Lierley, 2013). It also allowed the federal government to reject states’ legal authority in determining its citizens’ civil rights (Lierley, 2013). Due to the Supreme Court’s decision, all anti-sodomy laws in the US, including Texas, were invalidated. The states forfeited their power to define and punish their citizens’ moral crimes and sexual freedom.

I support the Court’s decision because it promoted social justice principles in our country. According to Gilkis (2018). Lawrence et al. v. Texas laid the foundation for legalizing same-sex marriages in America. Kane (2003) indicates that it led to a monumental breakthrough for the gay community. It empowered the gay rights activist movement, invalidated all laws prohibiting sexual expression, and steered a new era of equal treatment, acceptance, and respect for gays in America (Kane, 2003)  The Court’s ruling must be applauded because it promoted individual freedom, sexual politics and liberty, and individual rights.

References

Gilkis, K. B. (2018, September 9). Lawrence v. Texas. Legal Information Institute. https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/lawrence_v._texas

Kane, M. D. (2007). Timing matters: Shifts in the causal determinants of sodomy law decriminalization, 1961–1998. Social Problems, 54(2), 211-239.

Lierley, V. (n.d.). Badges of slavery : the struggle between civil rights and federalism during reconstruction. University of Louiseville. https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/831

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