Bowers v. Hardwick

Bowers v. Hardwick, {{ussc|478|186|1986}}, was a United States Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of a Georgia sodomy law that criminalized oral and anal sex in private between consenting adults. Seventeen years later the Supreme Court directly overruled Bowers in the Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003) decision and held that such laws are unconstitutional. (See judicial review.)

Background

In August of 1982, police officers entered the bedroom of Michael Hardwick to serve a summons for public drunkenness, where they found him engaged in oral sex with another man. They placed him under arrest for sodomy, which was defined in Georgia law to include both oral sex and anal sex. The local district attorney elected not to present the charge to the grand jury, which would have been a prerequisite to any trial or punishment for the offense. Hardwick then sued Michael Bowers, the attorney general of Georgia, for a declaration that the state's sodomy law was invalid, charging that as an active homosexual he was liable to eventually be prosecuted for his activities. Following decisions by the lower federal courts, the case ultimately reached the Supreme Court.

Related Topics:
1982 - Sodomy - Grand jury - Michael Bowers - Declaration - Homosexual

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