Question &: The case of Bowers v Hardwick enabled the Supreme Court to declare that states have a legitimate right to repress certain kinds of adult sexual conduct, even though it is both consensual and enacted in private. Discuss the case and the Court's reasoning. Compared to Lawrence v Texas, what conclusions about our private consensual sexual practices do you draw? Is sodomy a case of harmful wrongdoing? 5 I. Is consensual sodomy a violation of the "harm principle"? = II. A) What is sodomy? Define it as it applies to the Court decisions. 15 B) What were the main legal arguments for repressing it presented by Justice White in the majority opinion in the 1986 Supreme Court case of Bowers v Hardwick? 15 C) What were the main legal arguments for reversing Bowers v Hardwick presented by Justice Kennedy in the majority position in Lawrence and Garner v the State of Texas in 2003? 15 D) What do you think about the "legal" arguments? Are they morally convincing, and in what senses? 15 E. What do you think about the "moral" arguments concerning consensual sodomy? Does consensual sodomy violate the harm principle? 20 III. Summary: Repeat the general position for which you have argued, and a summary of the reasons/conclusions for each case. ort sC home