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University of Virginia Public Law and Legal Theory Working Paper Series

 

Brown and Lawrence (and Goodridge)

Michael J. Klarman, University of Virginia School of Law

Abstract

One year shy of the fiftieth anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the justices issued another equality ruling that is likely to become a historical landmark. In Lawrence v. Texas, the Court invalidated a state law that criminalized same-sex sodomy. This article contrasts these historic rulings along several dimensions, with the aim of shedding light on how Supreme Court justices decide cases and how Court decisions influence social reform movements.

Part I juxtaposes Brown and Lawrence to illustrate how judicial decision making often involves an uneasy reconciliation of traditional legal sources with broader social and political mores and the personal values of the judges. Part II considers what these landmark decisions teach us about the relationship between Supreme Court decisions and movements for social reform. Part III examines the light these rulings shed on the strategic aspect of judicial decision making: how courts sometimes temper their decisions in light of political constraints. Part IV–the heart of the article–considers the consequences of Brown and Lawrence (and Goodridge) and, especially, the political backlashes they ignited. Part V analyzes the rulings from the perspective of Supreme Court justices attempting to predict the future. A brief conclusion speculates as to what such decisions–and history’s verdict upon them–teach us about the source of the Supreme Court’s legitimacy.

Subject Area

Civil Rights, Legal History, Public Law and Legal Theory

Recommended Citation

Michael J. Klarman, "Brown and Lawrence (and Goodridge)" (February 2005). University of Virginia Legal Working Paper Series. University of Virginia Public Law and Legal Theory Working Paper Series. Working Paper 16.
http://law.bepress.com/uvalwps/uva_publiclaw/art16

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