in America. I’m very pleased that family, friends, and acquaintances will no longer be viewed a practicing criminals, thanks to the Supreme Court’s Lawrence v. Texas. Consider the language of the ruling:
The petitioners are entitled to respect for their private lives. The State cannot demean their existence or control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime. Their right to liberty under the Due Process Clause gives them the full right to engage in their conduct without intervention of the government. “It is a promise of the Constitution that there is a realm of personal liberty which the government may not enter.” Casey, supra, at 847. The Texas statute furthers no legitimate state interest which can justify its intrusion into the personal and private life of the individual. Had those who drew and ratified the Due Process Clauses of the Fifth Amendment or the Fourteenth Amendment known the components of liberty in its manifold possibilities, they might have been more specific. They did not presume to have this insight. They knew times can blind us to certain truths and later generations can see that laws once thought necessary and proper in fact serve only to oppress. As the Constitution endures, persons in every generation can invoke its principles in their own search for greater freedom. The judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Texas Fourteenth District is reversed,and the case is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.
As the Constitution endures, persons in every generation can invoke its principles in their own search for greater freedom. Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. And so close to the anniversary of Stonewall, too.
Of course, Scalia is sounding more and more misanthropic in purely contemporary terms, which is fine by me. While dissent like his must be welcomed within the sphere of discourse, it should not be recognized for anything other than living prejudice. And reactionary, too:
State laws against bigamy, same-sex marriage, adult incest, prostitution, masturbation, adultery, fornication, bestiality, and obscenity are likewise sustainable only in light of Bowers? validation of laws based on moral choices. Every single one of these laws is called into question by today’s decision; the Court makes no effort to cabin the scope of its decision to exclude them from its holding.
May Scalia’s worst fears come true. Frankly, the sooner America becomes like Canada and Western Europe, the sooner it can truly tout that it prizes freedom for all. Right now, we still look like a bunch of moral neanderthals.
Well, a little less so, thanks to the ruling, but still. Cruise the fundie right sites on your own and you’ll see what I mean.
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