Case: Lawrence v. Texas [539 U.S.

558] (2003) due process case (con law)

• Notes

• Texas law that criminalizes same sex intercourse. Bowers for all sodomy, not
just homosexual.
• Majority: based on substantive due process
○ Unconstitutional - violates the liberty/ substantive due process
○ They didn’t invoke privacy, like in Roe v Wade, but here they invoked
liberty, which is in the constitution
○ Individuals have liberty for what they do in private. Legislature
doesn’t have a right to trump that liberty
□ All gov't offered was a morality issue. This morality does not
trump liberty.
• How did it cite foreign int'l law?
○ Cited European court of human rights - in favor of majority opinion
○ Holding was authoritative in Europe - 45 nations
○ Cited British Parliament, contemporary with Bowers
○ Amicus brief by Mary Robinson et al.
• Countries more broadly have rejected the norm in Bowers