Today, December 11, a two-judge panel from the Supreme Court of India found “legally unsustainable” the 2009 ruling by the Delhi High Court that had struck down India’s colonial-era sodomy law, Section 377. Justices G.S. Singhvi and Sudhansu Jyoti Mukhopadhaya issued an opinion that drew immediate protests from progressive elements of society in India, and provoked street demonstrations against the ruling in several cities. The attitude of the justices was most clearly expressed near the … <Read More>
sodomy
4th Circuit Panel Debates Scope of Lawrence v. Texas; Majority Strikes Virginia Sodomy Law
Did Lawrence v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2003 decision holding that the Texas Homosexual Conduct Law violated the 14th Amendment Due Process clause, firmly establish a broad principle of federal constitutional law, or was it a narrow ruling that a state sodomy law cannot be used to prosecute private, consensual adult homosexual conduct? A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, based in Richmond, Virginia, debated that question in … <Read More>