CASE SUMMARY 71: Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003) The Right to Privacy Police in Houston, Texas, entered an unlocked apartment after they received a call reporting a man with a weapon "going crazy\" in that apartment. Once inside the apartment, the police agents found John Geddes Lawrence, Ir., an older white man, having sex with Tyron Garner, a younger black man. Both men were then arrested and criminally charged under a state law that forbade \"deviate sexual intercourse\" between people of the same sex. Both men appealed their convictions, and their case eventually went up to the U.S. Supreme Court. By a 6 to 3 vote, the high court held that criminal laws that punish homosexual conduet among consenting adults violates the right to privacy: "These matters, involving the most intimate and personal choices a person may make in a lifetime, choices central to personal dignity and autonomy, are central to the liberty protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. At the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life....\" CASE QUESTIONS 1. Why does the concept of "liberty\" in the Constitution include the right to privacy? 2. In his dissenting opinion, the late Justice Scalia accused the majority of inventing "a brand-new 'constitutional right'." What do you think he meant by this? 3. In yvour view, could there ever be a compelling government interest to regulate or prohibit private sexual conduct among consenting adults? What about laws against prostitution or laws against bigamy