For America's gay community, the question of rights is often reduced to the issue of privacy. Until very recently, even though this right has been upheld by the Supreme Court in landmark cases relating to contraception and abortion, the issue of "nonprocreational sex" continued to trigger a double standard for gay men. Now David Richards, a leading legal scholar who is himself gay, shows how two other landmark cases nearly twenty years apart shed light on America's evolving views of privacy. The Supreme Court's decision in ...
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For America's gay community, the question of rights is often reduced to the issue of privacy. Until very recently, even though this right has been upheld by the Supreme Court in landmark cases relating to contraception and abortion, the issue of "nonprocreational sex" continued to trigger a double standard for gay men. Now David Richards, a leading legal scholar who is himself gay, shows how two other landmark cases nearly twenty years apart shed light on America's evolving views of privacy. The Supreme Court's decision in Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) stemmed from a 1982 gay-sex arrest in an Atlanta home under a Georgia law that criminalized sodomy--a case not originally prosecuted, but then pursued in court to challenge the statute's constitutionality. Lawrence v. Texas (2003) followed a similar arrest in 1998 in Houston, where Texas law also criminalized sodomy--but only when practiced by members of the same sex. Richards views these cases as the nadir and apogee of the gay community's efforts to fight discrimination through the courts. In Bowers, the Supreme Court ruled that there was no constitutional protection for sodomy and that states could outlaw those practices. But in Lawrence, the Court overturned the Texas law--and the Bowers decision as well--because it denied due process protection to consenting adults whose sexual practices were conducted in private. Justice Kennedy's majority opinion reaffirmed a constitutionally protected right to privacy that prevented the government from regulating intimate behavior. Tracing the Court's deliberations, Richards shows how Lawrence unambiguously establishes that the right to a private life is an innately human right and that ourconstitutional right to privacy rests on the moral bedrock of equal protection. He shifts gracefully from the law to literature, and from the Courts to the wider culture, to offer a brilliant analysis of the relevant arguments, going beneath their surface to link them to the emotional and moral foundations of the controversies raging around these decisions. Both of these cases show a Supreme Court ready to take seriously the idea that homosexuals have human rights--and that these rights are the basis of judicially enforceable constitutional rights. In describing these challenges to public prejudice, Richards's book offers students and general readers new insight into the practice and theory of constitutional law.
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Seller's Description:
Very good. Ex-library. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 214 p. Landmark Law Cases & American Society. Audience: General/trade. LCCN 2008044516 Type of material Book Personal name Richards, David A. J. Main title The sodomy cases: Bowers v. Hardwick and Lawrence v. Texas / David A.J. Richards. Published/Created Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, c2009. Description xiii, 214 p.; 23 cm. ISBN 9780700616367 (cloth: alk. paper) 0700616365 (cloth: alk. paper) 9780700616374 (pbk. : alk. paper) 0700616373 (pbk. : alk. paper) LC classification KF9328. S6 R53 2009 Contents Breaking the silence--The constitutional right to privacy: contraception--The constitutional right to privacy: abortion--Bowers v. Hardwick: background, briefs, and oral arguments--Bowers v. Hardwick: the debate among the justices, Justice Powell's shift, and the opinions of the court--Between Bowers and Lawrence--Lawrence v. Texas: background, briefs, and oral arguments--Lawrence v. Texas: opinions of the court--After Lawrence: decriminalization of other sexual offenses and the case for same-sex marriage--A concluding perspective on landmark cases in American constitutional law. LC Subjects Sodomy--United States--Cases. Privacy, Right of--United States--Cases. Notes Includes bibliographical references (p.193-203) and index. Series Landmark law cases & American society Dewey class no. 342.7308/58 Geographic area code n-us---National bib no. GBA915818 National bib agency no. 014904407 Other system no. (OCoLC)ocn264026984 (OCoLC)264026984
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Good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used textbooks may not include companion materials such as access codes, etc. May have some wear or writing/highlighting. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
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Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
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Seller's Description:
Good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
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Near Fine. Book. Inscribed by Author(s) Bright, crisp pictorial wraps, tight binding, sharp corners, clean, unmarked pages throughout. Warmly inscribed by author to famed psychologist and friend of our store, Carol Gilligan.
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Fine. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. 214 pages. "No Supreme Court decision has had greater impact on gay men and lesbians than Lawrence. In this concise book, the author manages to explain not only Lawrence, but also the longer history of jurisprudence on privacy and sexuality that led us there." FINE SOFTCOVER.
