Defendants John Geddes Lawrence and Tyrone Garner were convicted in the County Criminal Court at Law No. 10, Harris County, Texas, of engaging in homosexual conduct. They appealed. On rehearing en banc, the Texas Court of Appeals affirmed. Certiorari was granted. The Supreme Court overruled its prior decision in Bowers v. Hardwick and held that the Texas statute making it a crime for two persons of the same sex to engage in certain intimate sexual conduct was unconstitutional, as applied to adult males who had engaged in a consensual act of sodomy in the privacy of their home.

Justice KENNEDY delivered the opinion of the Court.

Facts

In Houston, Texas, officers of the Harris County Police Department were dispatched to a private residence in response to a reported weapons disturbance. They entered an apartment where one of the petitioners, John Geddes Lawrence, resided. The right of the police to enter does not seem to have been questioned. The officers observed Lawrence and another man, Tyron Garner, engaging in a sexual act. The two petitioners were arrested, held in custody overnight, and charged and convicted before a Justice of the Peace.

The complaints described their crime as “deviate sexual intercourse, namely anal sex, with a member of the same sex (man).” The applicable state law is Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 21.06(a) (2003). it provides:

“A person commits an offense if he engages in deviate sexual intercourse with another individual of the same sex......

1. State exactly what the Court decided regarding homosexual sodomy.

2. Summarize the majority opinion’s argument supporting its decision.

3. Summarize Justice O’Connor’s arguments in her concurring opinion.

4. Summarize Justice Scalia’s arguments in his dissent.

5. Summarize Justice Thomas’s arguments in his dissent.

6. Whose opinion do you support? Defend your answer.