Analysis Of The History Of The Bowles Case

In 1986, the U. S. Supreme Court heared the case of Bowers v. Hardwick and ruled with 5:4 that Georgian sodomy law was constitutional. So, the sodomy law of Georgia survived in the legal battle. Seventeen years later, the Supreme Court overruled the Homosexual Conduct Law of Texas and specifically overthrew the decision of the Bowers case. This dissertation explored in details the whole history of the Bowers case, dating from the time of the Bowers case occurred to the point that Bowers decision was overthrown.The Bowers case did not arise from the vacuum, but it had deeply historical root. With development of American history and social culture, American homosexual rights movement turned from the spark into the flaming fire. In this historical context, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) changed its early attitudes toward the homosexuals, and became an organization which advocated homosexual rights. Using the Hardwick's unlucky encounter, ACLU launched a legal battle to challenge Georgian sodomy law. It was with the ACLU's effort that the Bowers case finally came into the marble palace of the U.S. Supreme Court. Obviously, the Bower concerned the homosexual right, but it was not the core problem that the Bowers was to discuss. This dissertation examined in details the history of the Supreme Court hearing the Bowers case and the Justices' opinions, and found that constitutional right to privacy is the real focus of the Bowers case. At last, because Tribe's theory couldn't move Justice Powell which was a moderate, the Supreme Court ruled with slight advantage that Georgian sodomy law was constitutional, and Hardwick lost the lawsuit.This dissertation appraised the Bowers decision with a historical perspective. This dissertation appraised the Bowers decision with the historical perspective. By and large, Bowers decision followed the precedents of the Supreme Court. In order to prevent the right to privacy from excess expanding, and to exclude adultery, incest, prostitution etc from the scope which the U. S. constitution protected, the Supreme Court created a limiting principle for the right of privacy in its judicial practice. The objects protected by constitutional right of privacy were legal social relationships, especially family relationship, and the acts which could be protect by it must happen within the legal social relationships. When the Supreme Court made the decision in the Bowers case, the homosexual relationship hadn't be accepted commonly by the society or the laws, so the Bowers decision tallied with the Supreme Court's jurisprudence of the right of privacy. However, it is not to say that the opinion of the Bowers decision was reasonable. Justice White who represented majority to write the Bowers opinion was an originalist. He thought that the Supreme Court should follow the original intentions of the constitution-makers when interpreting the U. S. constitution. Basing on the history of sodomy law, Justice White considered that the constitution-makers abhorred the homosexual sodomy, so the homosexual sodomy wasn't a basical right which was entitled to be protected by the U. S. constitution. This dissertation detailedly examined the history of American sodomy laws, and found they were very intricate. Justice White had simplified the history of American sodomy law, so his opinion had a great defect. In a word, the Bowers decision followed the Supreme Court's jurisprudence, but the Bowers opinion wasn't reasonable.Since the Bowers decision was born, American social culture had changed much during the decades, and the pluralizing of American family mode as well as the rising of homosexual family were especially prominent. These changes wavered the social ground of the Bowers decision, and the trends of reforming sodomy law showed that overruling the Bowers represented the aspirations of the people. Under these newly historical backgrounds, the homosexual rights organization which called Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund (LLDEF) launched the legal battle to challenge the sodomy law of Texas in the case of Lawrence v. Texas. In 2003, the Supreme Court also followed the social trends and abolished the Homosexual Conduct Law of Texas. In the Lawrence opinion, the Supreme Court specifically overruled the decision of the Bowers case, so the Bowers decision came to the end in this case.In brief, from the beginning to the end, the Bowers case resulted from the transformation of American history and social culture, and it was the outcome of American homosexual rights movement. At the same time, by exploring this case we can perceive the development of American history and the transformation of social culture as well as the change of social attitudes toward homosexuals, we can also comprehend better American constitutional political system and the relationship between the Supreme Court and the U. S. constitution.