Could A Bush Supreme Court Overturn Lawrence V Texas...

[DemocratSinceBirth]

Lawrence v Texas is the case that overturned Georgia v Hardwick which made sexual relations between two people of the same gender a crime... Actually Hardwick made sodomy between two individuals of any gender a crime... You could go to prison for performing oral sex on your wife or girlfriend or vice versa...


Lawrence passed on a 6-3 vote .... Bush needs to replace two centrist or liberal judges to make it happen...


In order for the Supreme Court to revisist the case a state would have to arrest an individual or individuals on a sodomy violation and then the party that was arrested would have to bring it before the courts...

[snippy]

1. Of course it could be overturned. If your question was merely rhetorical

about the likelihood of it being overturned, I would bet yes. But I do not think the case will reach the Court as a result of an individual appealing an arrest. I think a state will appeal after an arrest is thrown out based on Lawrence. In fact, I would be willing to bet that some state and some Reich Wing legal groups already are planning an arrest, a lower court decision applying Lawrence, an appelate court affirming, and the appeal to the Supreme Court by the state.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. It Wasn't Rhetorical...

Lawrence v Texas was a powerful symbolic decision...


But there weren't many sodomy arrests prior to Lawrence because of the logistical hurdles to gaining evidence...

Can you imagine a cop going to a judge and asking for a search warrant because he believes two men or two women are going down on each other.....


And as I indicated in my previous post many states made heterosexual sodomy illegal...

[snippy]

5. I think the plan is to charge someone with sodomy who was

engaging in sex in a public place rather than charging the person with public indecency or some other charge which is dependent on the public nature of the act. They will forego the conviction on the charge involving the public nature of the behavior in order to have an opportunity to appeal Lawrence. The timing of all of this depends on which Supreme Court Justices are replaced. If only dissenters in Lawrence are replaced, they will wait.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

6. I Don't Have Problems With Public Lewdness Arrests...

but the sanctity of the bedroom is inviolate...

[snippy]

7. Me either. But the people who want to reverse Lawrence are

not going to rely on statutes prohibiting sodomy in public. If they want a case to take to the Supreme Court, someone caught performing sodomy in public will be charged just with committing sodomy. Where it was committed will be legally irrelevant.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. I Think An Overturn Of Lawrence Is Remote...

Once a right is granted it's hard to take away...

But I would put nothing past Bush....


I think Roe is in more danger...

[Onlooker]

3. I think we're waiting to a few things

(1) Will Bush, like Reagan, move to the center in his second term? Or will he go further to the right, which is what I fear.
(2) Will the Senate Democrats stand up to Bush and exact a price for every victory he scores? Or, will the Senate Democrats, like Kerry, cave in without exacting a price?
(3) Will any of the moderate-liberal justices retire? Right now, the sane justices are Stevens, Breyer, Gisnburg, and Souter, but on Lawrence v. Texas, I think O'Connor is on our side and Kennedy might be as well. The "liberal" justices who might retire are Stevens (who is a spry 88 year old) and Ginsburg (who had had cancer, but I think it's been in remission). I suspect both of them will try to hang on, in which case it's extremely unlikely that Lawrence v. Texas would be overturned.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

4. Four Republican Appointed Judges Were Part Of The Larence Six

Kennedy, O'Connor, Stephens, and Souter...

I really don't think Lawrence will be overturned but all our rights are fragile now...

[phish420]

9. A bush Supreme court will be able to overturn ANYTHING IT WANTS