Following on my marriage post, I think this link to Balkinization deserves an entry of its own. Jack Balkin has an excellent post which clarifies a lot of the confusion surrounding the Supreme Court’s decision in the sodomy case. Especially with regard to Kennedy’s attempt to strengthen Roe vs. Wade and the relationship between morality and privacy:
For the record, Lawrence extends the fundamental right of privacy to same-sex intimate relationships. It does not strike down Texas’ sodomy law on the ground that it fails the test of rationality, as Justice Scalia seems to assume. Nor does it hold that appeals to morality cannot be a legitimate government interest under the rational basis test for ordinary social and economic legislation. Rather, it holds only that when a fundamental right or interest is involved moral disapproval is not a sufficient interest to overcome the fundamental right.
