Bowers v. Hardwick

A Georgia statute criminalized oral and anal sex; Hardwick, an adult man, was charged under it for conduct with another adult man in Hardwick's own home, though the district attorney chose not to pursue the charge before a grand jury. Hardwick sued in federal court to challenge the statute's constitutionality, fearing future arrest as a gay man. The district court dismissed for failure to state a claim, but the Eleventh Circuit reversed, holding the statute infringed a fundamental privacy right protected by the Ninth Amendment and Due Process Clause.