Lawrence v. Texas
United States Supreme Court
539 U.S. 558 (2003)
Relevant factsFree
Responding to a reported weapons disturbance, police entered John Lawrence's (defendant's) home and observed him and Tyron Garner (defendant) engaged in a sexual act; Texas charged both men under a statute criminalizing deviate sexual intercourse between persons of the same sex. After conviction by a Justice of the Peace and an unsuccessful equal-protection challenge in criminal court, the men entered pleas of nolo contendere, the court of appeals affirmed, and they petitioned the Supreme Court for review.
IssueFree
Whether the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment includes a right to liberty in individual decisions concerning the intimacies of their physical relationship.