Which case invalidated state sodomy laws and reinforced privacy via substantive due process?

• A. Roper v. Simmons
• B. Kennedy v. Louisiana
• C. Lawrence v. Texas
• D. Bowers v. Hardwick

Answer: (C)

The key idea here is that substantive due process protects a person’s liberty to make intimate, private decisions without government interference. Lawrence v. Texas is the case that fits this, because it held that adults have the liberty to engage in private, consensual sexual conduct, and that state sodomy laws cabin this private choice in a way the Fourteenth Amendment cannot permit. In ruling this way, the Court overturned Bowers v. Hardwick and struck down sodomy laws nationwide, reinforcing the notion that the government cannot criminalize private, consensual sexual activity among adults. The other cases don’t fit this pattern: Roper v. Simmons deals with juvenile death penalty, Kennedy v. Louisiana concerns death penalty for crimes against a person (a child) rather than private sexual conduct, and Bowers v. Hardwick was the prior ruling that allowed sodomy laws before Lawrence overruled it.