Gay and lesbian leaders are optimistic that the U.S. Supreme Court will strike down the Texas same-sex sodomy law before it adjourns for the summer. That assessment came in a telephone briefing for reporters on March 13, in preparation for oral arguments on the case that will be held on March 26.
‘It’s a good time for us to get another positive ruling [on a gay issue] and shore up the Romer case’ that struck down Colorado’s antigay Amendment 2 in 1996, said Ruth Harlow. She is legal director of Lambda Legal, the gay advocacy group that has brought forward the case known as Lawrence v. Texas.
‘I don’t believe that the Court can make the same mistake that it did in Bowers’ v. Hardwick, she said. In that notorious 1986 decision, the Court ruled 5 to 4 that consenting adults have no constitutional right to private homosexual conduct. States may enact sodomy laws. Harlow believes the Court will reverse that decision.
This is likely to be the last gay case before the Court before one or possibly several of its members are replaced through retirement or death. Some observers fear that Justices appointed by President George W. Bush might be less sympathetic to gay issues.