Lawrence v. Texas

On November 3, 1992, Colorado voters, with a vote of 53.4 percent, enacted "Amendment 2", which read: Neither the state of Colorado, through any of its branches or departments, nor any of its agencies, political subdivisions, municipalities or school districts, shall enact, adopt or enforce any statute, regulation, ordinance or policy whereby homosexual, lesbian or bisexual orientation, conduct, practices or relationships shall constitute or otherwise be the basis of, or entitle any person or class of persons to have or claim ...

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Romer v. Evans, Romer v. Evans - History, Romer v. Evans - The U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Romer v. Evans - Dissent, Romer v. Evans - Notes

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Shortly after founding Operation Rescue (OR), Terry was first arrested in 1986 for chaining himself to a sink at an abortion clinic. OR grew to become a well-known example of civil disobedience by the American conservative right, and Terry was often in the news because of his activities as the group's leader. By the mid-1990s, OR was "the largest peaceful civil disobedience movement in American history," accounting "for over 70,000 arrests from 1987 to 1994." Terry has since disassociated himself with the organization and since his departure, a ...

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Randall Terry, Randall Terry - Pro-life activist, Randall Terry - NOW lawsuit, Randall Terry - Post-lawsuit activities

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Originalism - Philosophical underpinnings. Dissenting in Dred Scott v. Sanford [22], Justice Benjamin R. Curtis wrote: "Whether such decrees are wise or unwise, whether their subjects are citizens or not, if they are usurpation of power, our rights are both infringed and endangered. They are infringed because the power to decide and act is taken away from the people without their consent. They are endangered because in a constitutional government, every usurpation of power dangerously disorders the ...

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Originalism, Originalism - Origins of the term, Originalism - Differentiated from strict constructionism, Originalism - Forms of originalism, Originalism - Original intent, Originalism - Problems with original intent, Originalism - Original meaning, Originalism - Methodology, Originalism - Discussion, Originalism - Philosophical underpinnings, Originalism - Function of Constitutional jurisprudence, Originalism - Matters rendered moot by originalism, Originalism - What originalism is not, Originalism - Pros and cons, Originalism - Arguments favoring originalism, Originalism - Arguments opposing originalism, Originalism - Footnotes

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The moral legitimacy of marriage between two people of the same sex hinges on how the authoritative definition of marriage is derived. If marriage is to have a religious foundation, the interpretation of religious texts and traditions will be key; if marriage is a social institution, legal agreement, or even a purely economic coupling, then pragmatic arguments will have more force (though moral issues will no doubt still arise). Gay rights advocates assert that marriage is a right since it is a legal agreement on the governmental level which ...

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Same-sex marriage, Same-sex marriage - Debates over terminology, Same-sex marriage - History of same-sex unions, Same-sex marriage - Asia, Same-sex marriage - Classical Europe, Same-sex marriage - Christian Europe, Same-sex marriage - North America, Same-sex marriage - Africa, Same-sex marriage - Current status of same-sex religious marriage, Same-sex marriage - Current status of same-sex civil marriage, Same-sex marriage - Africa, Same-sex marriage - Asia, Same-sex marriage - Europe, Same-sex marriage - North America, Same-sex marriage - Australia, Same-sex marriage - International Organizations, Same-sex marriage - Controversy, Same-sex marriage - Religious arguments, Same-sex marriage - Social arguments, Same-sex marriage - Arguments about tradition, Same-sex marriage - Arguments about inability to prohibit certain kinds of sex, Same-sex marriage - Arguments concerning children, Same-sex marriage - Arguments concerning equality, Same-sex marriage - Miscellaneous, Same-sex marriage - Bibliography

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The Fourteenth Amendment was enacted in 1868, shortly after the Union victory in the American Civil War. Though the Thirteenth Amendment, which was proposed by Congress and ratified by the states in 1865, had abolished slavery, many ex-Confederate states adopted Black Codes following the war. These laws severely restricted the power of blacks to hold property and form legally enforceable contracts. They also created harsher criminal penalties for blacks than for whites.See also:

Equal Protection Clause, Equal Protection Clause - Background, Equal Protection Clause - Post-Civil War interpretation and the Plessy decision, Equal Protection Clause - Between Plessy and Brown, Equal Protection Clause - Brown and its consequences, Equal Protection Clause - Carolene Products and the various levels of Equal Protection scrutiny, Equal Protection Clause - Discriminatory intent or disparate impact?, Equal Protection Clause - Suspect classes, Equal Protection Clause - Affirmative action, Equal Protection Clause - The Equal Protection Clause and voting, Equal Protection Clause - Notes

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The issue in Bowers involved the right of privacy. Since 1965's Griswold v. Connecticut the Court had held that a right to privacy was implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. In Bowers, the Court held that this right did not extend to private, consensual sexual conduct, at least insofar as it involved same-sex sodomy. The majority opinion in Bowers, written by Justice Byron White, framed the legal question as whether the constitution creates "a funda ...

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Bowers v. Hardwick, Bowers v. Hardwick - Background, Bowers v. Hardwick - Decision, Bowers v. Hardwick - The Concurrences and Dissents, Bowers v. Hardwick - Aftermath

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Unprotected sex, including anal sex, is an effective means of transmitting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). According to health-care professionals, condoms should always be used for anal intercourse, but they should not be considered an absolute safeguard. In principle, anal sex with anyone known to have a sexually transmissible disease, and indeed with anyone whose disease status has not been determined, should be avoided. HIV testing, however, can be unreliable; it is possible for someone who is tested to receive a "false negative". This advice applies to all sexual ...

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Anal sex, Anal sex - Overview, Anal sex - Anal sex among heterosexuals, Anal sex - Anal sex among gay/bisexual men, Anal sex - Cultural issues, Anal sex - Health issues, Anal sex - Condoms & Anal Sex, Anal sex - Legal issues, Anal sex - Religious views

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There is much debate about the degree to which the Federal Marriage Amendment influenced the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election. By the time Americans went to the polls, both John Kerry and George W. Bush had somewhat similar positions on gay marriage, opposing the extension of marriage rights to same-sex couples and supporting states' rights on civil unions, although Kerry opposed the Federal Marriage Amendment and affirmatively supported civil unions, while Bush supported the Federal Mar ...

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Federal Marriage Amendment, Federal Marriage Amendment - Federal and state government, Federal Marriage Amendment - Proposed amendment, Federal Marriage Amendment - Process, Federal Marriage Amendment - State Marriage Amendments, Federal Marriage Amendment - Opposite Actions in Other Nations, Federal Marriage Amendment - Political Considerations of the FMA in the United States, Federal Marriage Amendment - Bush Administration's Stance, Federal Marriage Amendment - Campaign Issue, Federal Marriage Amendment - Criticism of the Federal Marriage Amendment, Federal Marriage Amendment - Domestic abuse, Federal Marriage Amendment - Gay rights, Federal Marriage Amendment - Heterosexual unmarried couples, Federal Marriage Amendment - Federalism, Federal Marriage Amendment - The Right to Privacy, Federal Marriage Amendment - Separation of Church and State

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Scalia is considered the Court's leading proponent of constitutional originalism. He is careful to distinguish his philosophy of original meaning from original intent. Scalia is also the leading proponent of textualism, a school of jurisprudence that emphasizes careful adherence to the text of both the Constitution of the United States and federal statutes. Scalia's originalism frequently puts him on the conservative side of the Court in constitutional cases, but occasionally brings results that defy conservative administrations. He n ...

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Antonin Scalia, Antonin Scalia - Early life, Antonin Scalia - Legal career, Antonin Scalia - Legal philosophy and approach, Antonin Scalia - Important cases, Antonin Scalia - Sixth Amendment case study, Antonin Scalia - Scalia the Court and the electronic media

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Kennedy was born in Sacramento, California. Kennedy, a Roman Catholic, married Mary Davis, with whom he has three children. He has no relation to the famous Kennedy family of American politics. He received his B.A. in Political Science from Stanford University, another B.A. from the London School of Economics and an LL.B. from Harvard Law School. He was in private practice in San Francisco, California from 1961-1963, as well as in Sacramento, California from 1963-1975. From 1965 to 1988, he was a Professor of Constitutional Law at the McGe ...

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Anthony Kennedy, Anthony Kennedy - Early Life, Anthony Kennedy - Supreme Court Tenure, Anthony Kennedy - Ideology

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During his service on the high court, White wrote 994 opinions. His votes and opinions on the bench reflect an ideology that has been notoriously difficult for popular journalists and legal scholars alike to pin down. White often took a narrow, fact-specific view of cases before the Court, and, in the tradition of the New Deal, frequently supported a broad view of governmental powers. He consistently voted against creating constitutional restrictions on the police, dissenting in the landmark 1966 case of Miranda v. Arizona. Byron Whi ...

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Byron White, Byron White - Education, Byron White - Football, Byron White - Military Service, Byron White - Law career, Byron White - Supreme Court, Byron White - Substantive due process doctrine, Byron White - Death penalty, Byron White - Civil rights, Byron White - Court operations and retirement, Byron White - Trivia

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The idea that temporal affairs must submit to Christianity appears in the papal bull Unam sanctam of 1302. This document reasserted the Church's authority over European kings as the supreme political power in Europe. Today Christian supremacy more typically means that politics and culture must submit to Christian principles, rather than to spiritual leaders personally. This view remains widespread in the United States, under the slogan, "the United States is a Christian nation." In its most extreme strains, Christian Supremacy takes the form of Christian Reconstructionism, also called Hard Dominio ...

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Christian Supremacy, Christian Supremacy - Christian supremacy abroad, Christian Supremacy - Christian supremacy and society, Christian Supremacy - United States, Christian Supremacy - Homosexuality and Obscenity, Christian Supremacy - Scientific inquiry, Christian Supremacy - Self-identified Christian supremacists and groups, Christian Supremacy - People and groups sometimes identified as Christian supremacists

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The Fifth Amendment contains a guarantee of basic due process applicable only to actions of the federal government: "No person shall be... deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law...." The Fourteenth Amendment contains the same phrase, but expressly applied to the States. The Supreme Court has interpreted the two clauses identically, so under the federal Constitution, there is no substantial difference in protection from federal or State action. However, State constitutions also have their own guarantees of due proc ...

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Due process, Due process - International Due Process, Due process - Due process in the United States, Due process - Procedural due process, Due process - Personal jurisdiction, Due process - Substantive Due Process, Due process - Explicit procedural guarantees in the U.S. Constitution, Due process - Broader or non-explicit Constitutional sources of liberties used by the Supreme Court, Due process - Incorporation, Due process - External link

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In a 6-1 decision (Justices Rehnquist and Powell were not sworn in on time to participate in the case), the Court upheld both Baird's standing to appeal and the First Circuit's decision on the basis of the Equal Protection Clause, the Massachusetts statute failing to reach the Due Process issues. The majority opinion was written by Justice William J. Brennan and joined by three other justices, William O. Douglas, Potter Stewart, and Thurgood Marshall. Brennan reasoned that since Massachusetts did not enforce its law against married couples a ...

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Eisenstadt v. Baird, Eisenstadt v. Baird - Case History, Eisenstadt v. Baird - Result

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In 1994 gay journalist Randy Shilts published what is considered to be a definitive history of homosexuals in the armed forces, from the American Revolutionary War to the first Persian Gulf War. The book's extensive interviews with numerous servicemen and women, along with historical research of the armed forces treatment of homosexuality in terms of sodomy, security clearances, witch hunts, women and ethnic minorities in the military, the AIDS-HIV pandemic, and the court challeng ...

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Don't ask don't tell, Don't ask don't tell - History, Don't ask don't tell - Statistics, Don't ask don't tell - Military Readiness Enhancement Act, Don't ask don't tell - Criticism, Don't ask don't tell - Situation outside the United States, Don't ask don't tell - General, Don't ask don't tell - Source

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On the Court, Thomas has argued for an originalist or "textualist" view of the Constitution faithful to that document's text and history. Especially early in his term on the court, critics often suggested that Thomas lacked a judicial philosophy of his own, and that he unreflectingly signed on to the opinions of Justice Antonin Scalia. Although Thomas has frequently voted with Scalia, his opinions have sometimes diverged from Scalia's based on Thomas's alternative readings of Constitutional history. Scalia appears much more willing to be gui ...

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Clarence Thomas, Clarence Thomas - Personal history, Clarence Thomas - Early career, Clarence Thomas - Appointment, Clarence Thomas - Judicial philosophy, Clarence Thomas - Liberal rulings by a conservative Justice, Clarence Thomas - Heritage, Clarence Thomas - Sources

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Main article: Freedom of speech in the United States Freedom of speech, protected by the First Amendment, allows people the freedom to express themselves and enjoy the expressions of others in nearly all instances. A definition of civil liberties can be stated as, individual legal and constitutional protections against the government. Even students may express themselves in government-run schools (Tinker v. Des Moines). Manner of dress is a form of expression (ibid.). Freedom of speech in the US follows a gradated system, with different types o ...

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Civil liberties of the United States, Civil liberties of the United States - Freedom of speech, Civil liberties of the United States - Time place or manner restrictions, Civil liberties of the United States - Content-based restrictions, Civil liberties of the United States - Viewpoint-based restrictions, Civil liberties of the United States - Special exceptions, Civil liberties of the United States - Prior restraint, Civil liberties of the United States - Sexual freedom, Civil liberties of the United States - Equal protection

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This table is for relative comparison of the "norm" between countries only and should not be considered authoritative. See detailed information for each jurisdiction below. Mexico Philippines Swaziland Guyana Japan South Korea Spain Canada Chile Colombia Ecuador Paraguay Peru China Albania Austria Bulgaria Estonia Germany Hungary ...

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Age of consent, Age of consent - Social and legal attitudes, Age of consent - Extraterrioriality, Age of consent - Age of consent for homosexual and heterosexual sex, Age of consent - Ages of consent in various countries, Age of consent - Africa, Age of consent - North America, Age of consent - South America, Age of consent - Asia, Age of consent - Europe, Age of consent - Australia, Age of consent - New Zealand

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Same-sex marriage in the United States - 1971 Minnesota. The Minnesota Supreme Court rules against the contention of plaintiffs Jack Baker and Mike McConnell that absence of a specific prohibition on same-sex marriage signified a legislative intent to recognize them. The court found that "The institution of marriage as a union of man and woman, uniquely involving the procreation and rearing of children within a family, is as old as the book of Genesis". [4] This decision was summarily affimed by the United States Supreme Court Baker v ...

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Same-sex marriage in the United States, Same-sex marriage in the United States - Popular opinion, Same-sex marriage in the United States - Polls, Same-sex marriage in the United States - Legislative branch on same-sex unions, Same-sex marriage in the United States - Federal level, Same-sex marriage in the United States - State level, Same-sex marriage in the United States - Executive branch on same-sex unions, Same-sex marriage in the United States - Federal level, Same-sex marriage in the United States - State level, Same-sex marriage in the United States - Judicial branch on same-sex unions, Same-sex marriage in the United States - Federal level, Same-sex marriage in the United States - State level, Same-sex marriage in the United States - Federal issues, Same-sex marriage in the United States - Civil unions, Same-sex marriage in the United States - International issues, Same-sex marriage in the United States - Timeline, Same-sex marriage in the United States - 1971 Minnesota, Same-sex marriage in the United States - 1975 Arizona, Same-sex marriage in the United States - 1975 Colorado, Same-sex marriage in the United States - 1987 Washington DC, Same-sex marriage in the United States - 1993 Hawaii, Same-sex marriage in the United States - 1998 Alaska, Same-sex marriage in the United States - 1999 Vermont, Same-sex marriage in the United States - 2003 Massachusetts, Same-sex marriage in the United States - 2004 New Jersey, Same-sex marriage in the United States - 2004 California, Same-sex marriage in the United States - 2004 New Mexico, Same-sex marriage in the United States - 2004 New York, Same-sex marriage in the United States - 2004 Oklahoma, Same-sex marriage in the United States - 2004 Oregon, Same-sex marriage in the United States - 2004 Rhode Island, Same-sex marriage in the United States - 2004 Washington, Same-sex marriage in the United States - 2005 Ohio, Same-sex marriage in the United States - 2005 Nebraska, Same-sex marriage in the United States - 2005 California, Same-sex marriage in the United States - 2005 Massachusetts, Same-sex marriage in the United States - 2005 Texas, Same-sex marriage in the United States - Laws defining marriage, Same-sex marriage in the United States - The 2004 presidential election, Same-sex marriage in the United States - Case law, Same-sex marriage in the United States - External link

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In 1994 gay journalist Randy Shilts published what is considered to be a definitive history of homosexuals in the armed forces, from the American Revolutionary War to the first Persian Gulf War. While Shilts clearly had a liberal slant to his research, the book's extensive interviews with numerous servicemen and women, along with historical research of the armed forces treatment of homosexuality in terms of sodomy, security clearances, witch hunts, women and ethnic minorities in the military, the AIDS-HIV pandemic, and the court challen ...

See also:

Don't ask don't tell, Don't ask don't tell - History, Don't ask don't tell - Statistics, Don't ask don't tell - Military Readiness Enhancement Act, Don't ask don't tell - Situation outside the United States, Don't ask don't tell - General, Don't ask don't tell - Academic criticism

Read more here: » Don't ask don't tell: Encyclopedia II - Don't ask don't tell - History

The Institute was founded in San Francisco, California in 1977 by Edward H. Crane and initially funded by Charles G. Koch. The Institute is named after Cato's Letters, a series of British essays penned in the early 18th century expounding the libertarian principles of John Locke, which were in turn named after Cato the Younger, the defender of republican institutions in Rome. An important founding member was Murray Rothbard, one of Cato's original three board members and the one who suggested its name. Rothbard later came into ...

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Cato Institute, Cato Institute - History, Cato Institute - Publications, Cato Institute - Stances on issues, Cato Institute - Funding, Cato Institute - Notable associates, Cato Institute - Policy scholars, Cato Institute - Adjunct scholars, Cato Institute - Fellows, Cato Institute - Associates in the news, Cato Institute - Former employees

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2003 - January. January 1 - Luíz Inácio Lula Da Silva becomes the 37th President of Brazil. January 1 - Pascal Couchepin becomes President of the Confederation in Switzerland. January 3 - The Ohio State University defeats the University of Miami in double-overtime in the Fiesta Bowl, 31-24, for the national Bowl Championship Series (BCS) title. The game is considered to be among the best in recent years. January 8 - US Airways flight 5481 crashes at Charlotte-Douglas Internation ...

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2003, 2003 - Events, 2003 - January, 2003 - February, 2003 - March, 2003 - April, 2003 - May, 2003 - June, 2003 - July, 2003 - August, 2003 - September, 2003 - October, 2003 - November, 2003 - December, 2003 - Births, 2003 - Deaths, 2003 - January, 2003 - February, 2003 - March, 2003 - April, 2003 - May, 2003 - June, 2003 - July, 2003 - August, 2003 - September, 2003 - October, 2003 - November, 2003 - December, 2003 - Nobel Prizes, 2003 - 2003 in Fiction

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